Maybe I'll hire a marketing guy...
Ouch... Sad but true.
Well it seems that many cocooners are turning away from HS because of their attitude and not because of their product. To be honest I would probably still be with them if they did not have the attitude that they do. But the bottom line is that there are a ton of options now.
First of all, the elk is controlled by a simple serial port or TCP/IP interface. I have never looked at protocol but if its as easy as electron makes it sound then you could write your own applicaiton to support the elk. It seems that everyone is extreemly happy with the elk and I plan on getting one as soon as I get paid for my last side job. However, I don't think the elk will be the complete solution, just most of the solution.
You have the very inexpensive Z-wave SDK available which would also allow you to write your own application. Although with an elk you would not need this SDK but it is available.
Then you also have mister house which is free open source HA application. PowerHome, and a few more that I am sure a quick search would turn up on this site.
Last but not least you have CQC which offers just about everything that HS does but it is designed for professional installers.
To be honest I would start off by getting an elk and learning how to program in VS .net (preferably C# so we can help each other out). Use your own application to add advanced logic to the elk. This may not even be needed because the elk has the ability to be programmed its self. Its only if you want to add things like web control that you would need to have software.
My point is that you are not at all stuck with HomeSeer and IMO they are no longer the best choice. And that opinion really has nothing to do with the fact that their software sucks (and it does in its current state) but it has to do with the fact that they have been shuting out their customers and act like we owe them. The bottom line is that most functionality in HS was written by its users anyway so what is stoping you from downloading the FREE express version of Visual Studio 2005 (C# or VB) and learning to write your own code.
That is my long term plan and I am sure a few others will end up going that way also.