I got a private message from CocoonTech and checked it out. It was a survey from some gal in England! Anyway. I decided to see ehat I have been missing and saw this "super-thread" talking about HomeSeer pricing.
I read the entire thread. Noticed no one said anything ill of me so I need not get defensive. I will give my two cents.
I also have done the math that firtha did and it amazes me that HS was able to make ends meet. So, I understand the need for pricing increases. On the other hand, I also started with HomeSeer when there was a lot of colloboration with scripts. I guess I am in the middle (hard for a staunch conservative like myself
).
IMHO, the colloborative effort is still present but discussion about commercial stuff tends to skew vintage HS users into thinking that the good ol' days are gone. Personally, I still offer plenty of free stuff and am willing to colloborate on it. I have free plug-ins that I will provide source for. I try to keep a comprehensive list of all these options at
http://www.doosoft.com/downloads.php (it becomes difficult to maintain all those links when HS switches boards - not complaining about that mind you).
But with all the free software available, it seems that everyone wants to focus on the "doubling of the price of a plug-in" or "geez, I remember when HomeSeer paid
me to use their software"
. I say that somewhat tongue-in-cheek because in order to keep another plug-in from dying a slow death at $29.95, I now offer it on my site. It was an easy decision since it was one of my favorite projects. I am no longer the developer but it has "my name on it". Some would say it should be free but it has taken hours and hours of work.
Now I am contemplating the future of my premiere plug-in. It was the first one (Michael may have gotten to market first) and I talked to Rich about some of the concepts. I read through this thread and think sh*t I am charging the same as what HomeSeer used to cost. However, I have always considered that what I charge is soley for support. If users don't hear from me in a reasonable amount of time (and I am not in Germany again
), then you might as well contact my wife and give your condolences.
HA is still a hobby for me (yes, my funds tend to go back into my hobby) and I hope that others still feel the same way. Now, can we start some colloborating?
