Pluto?

[Dean Roddey]

The second market are regular users that would buy the bundled software/hardware from authorized dealers. This is were they expect to make money. They have not announced those dealers yet because they recognize that they are not ready yet. I just hope that they focus in polishing out what they have and stop developing new stuff, so that they can release something succesful to the market before they run dry of money.

What I don't get about that is that professional installers will not like that at all, and if that's your primary way of making money (and it generally will be for any commercial automation package), I'm not sure how they expect that to work. We charge up to $315 for the DIY package, but installers are not happy that they have to pay more for the package then the DIYer does. If the DIY package is free, then all a customer has to do is get the free version and hire someone to set it up for them, without going through Pluto.

That's what our installers are really concerned about. Those installers who do it out side the system can undersell the installer who pays for the fully supported package, and Pluto makes nothing. The unscrupulous installer and customer get a free ride off of them.

I'm not even sure it's illegal, it would depend on the agreement for the free version, and whether it explicitly says the customer cannot have anyone install it for them professionally. But that's a slippery slope that would be hard to fight in court. When does it become a 'professional install'?

So if we are catching it even when we charge for the DIY version, I'm having a hard time seeing professional installers not feeling a lot more paranoid about the DIY version being free.

 

[elcano]

Pluto released a minor upgrade. See the changelog here:
http://plutohome.com/support/index.php?sec...sions&package=0

Seems to be focused on improved reliability.