Stargate + HomeSeer Users

[Mark S.]

I believe there are a few other Stargate users who hang around on CT. HomeSeer Technologies may take over support for the JDS plugin, or may make it open source, or worse yet do nothing if they don't see enough users. Glen Todd (the author), however, claims he will continue to support the plugin - although his support has been pretty weak lately. Not pretty.

If you use HomeSeer with SG, or have even thought about it, please voice your existence and/or opinion over on the HomeSeer JDS Forum..

Thanks,

Mark

 

[upstatemike]

I'm sorry but I just don't believe that HST will be able to support the Stargate plugin at a level that will satisfy Stargate users in the long run. The Stargate protocol is very difficult to work with and only someone who wants to do it for their own pleasure would put in the amount of time required to be successful.

Glenn has been slow to move to HS 2.0 (perhaps for good reason) which may have have led to some issues with the plugin, but I would be surprised if HST will really do it better enough to justify making users pay for it.

 

[Mark S.]

I'm afraid you may be right about HST's ability and commitment. And that's what bothers me. I could see them saying - the heck with this, this is way to much work for just a handful of HS users.

On the other hand, Glen has done a great job, but he's way too slow to respond to bugs and changes in HS. HST can't attract new SG users and existing users are getting very frustrated.

Mark

 

[upstatemike]

On the other hand, Glen has done a great job, but he's way too slow to respond to bugs and changes in HS. HST can't attract new SG users and existing users are getting very frustrated.

Mark

It's one thing to be a little frustrated at something that was free but imagine how mad folks will be after they shell out $40 for the HST version of the plugin and still don't get good support!

 

[Tink]

You read my post incorrectly. I did not say we would do nothing - I said it would go open source OR we would take it over - "do nothing" was not an option.

Yes, Glen has been slow to adopt the few 2.0 changes that needed to be made - he has not understood all of them because he has not switched to 2.0. However, AFAIK, that is the only plug-in still having 2.0 issues. The others have been modified to be compliant, and many are now in the move to .NET. In fact, one of the big changes Glen has never made in the plug-in was to support device codes going to the 99 range and having to wrap and use another house code when you run out - that is back from the 1.7 days.

There were VERY FEW changes needed to work well with 2.0 - the truth is that Glen, just like HST, has to watch his bottom line, and so he tries to get paying work and cannot spend a lot of time without compensation on providing a free plug-in.

Comments here state that support of the plug-in would be difficult, and we cannot confirm more than a couple of dozen users, so if we decide to move it to open source, could you blame us? In open source, Glen himself could continue to work on it without any changes. I would think there would be more positive feedback on the open source option. Rather than not supporting it at all or leaving it using script based support, we paid Glen some money to write it, but it never attracted that many users. If we released it to open source, where else could somebody get a 98% complete plug-in to work on?

 

[upstatemike]

I would think there would be more positive feedback on the open source option.

That is a good point. I should have balanced my negative view of making it a paid plugin with support for the idea of making it Open Source. Only down side is Glen would no longer take responsibility for supporting it beyond the limits of his own contributions to the code.

 

[Mark S.]

Actually, Glen stated on JDS Users that he would not support an open source version - he says it's a large set of code. Instead he would offer his own version of the plugin on his website. A scenario that brings us right back to where we are today.

Besides, I haven't yet seen one SG user come forward on 3 different forums who says he has the skills and motivation to work on and support an open source version. Tink - that's why I pessimistically say a third result is "do nothing".

It would be a real shame if this falls flat. Most users of the Stargate-HomeSeer combination (including myself) can't help but marvel and gush at the usefulness of this hardware/software partnership. We're always amazed that everyone (including JDS and HST) doesn't see the value and potential and jump on board. It feels kinda like a major breakthrough like personal spaceflight has been invented, but only a handful of accountants appreciate it and use it. Us accountants don't know how to fix a hyperdrive module!

Mark

 

[sparky]

All:
I've had a Stargate system running for the past three years and have been regularly checking the JDS and Homeseer bulletin boards to see if it makes sense to buy Homeseer as a complementary extension to my system. When all is said and done, I won't buy Homeseer unless Homeseer takes over the plug-in and provides effective support/development. I don't think that there are enough capable JDS/Homeseer users out there to keep the plug-in moving forward if it is an open source package.

As an alternative to a plug-in fee, how about offering a support plan for the relatively few JDS Stargate/Homeseer users out there? While I realize that most hobby automation folks are notorioulsy cheap, this may be a case where there are no other alternatives to keep the plug-in alive.

Food for thought.

Len

 

[Mark S.]

I've had a Stargate system running for the past three years and have been regularly checking the JDS and Homeseer bulletin boards to see if it makes sense to buy Homeseer as a complementary extension to my system. When all is said and done, I won't buy Homeseer unless Homeseer takes over the plug-in and provides effective support/development. I don't think that there are enough capable JDS/Homeseer users out there to keep the plug-in moving forward if it is an open source package.

Go over to the JDS Users forum on the link above and tell Rick Tinker.

Mark

 

[upstatemike]

I've had a Stargate system running for the past three years and have been regularly checking the JDS and Homeseer bulletin boards to see if it makes sense to buy Homeseer as a complementary extension to my system. When all is said and done, I won't buy Homeseer unless Homeseer takes over the plug-in and provides effective support/development. I don't think that there are enough capable JDS/Homeseer users out there to keep the plug-in moving forward if it is an open source package.

Go over to the JDS Users forum on the link above and tell Rick Tinker.

Mark

Anybody know what the final decision on this was?

 

[upstatemike]

Just checked the Homeseer message board. No activity for a week and no indication on what the timeline might be for updating the plugin. Anybody heard something new on this?

 

[upstatemike]

A little more time has passed... anybody got the Stargate plugin working on HS 2.1 yet?