The problem with home automation companies is they have a perspective and culture of a hardware manufacturer who never understood software. They want to build a device, wire it up, sell it, then forget about it.
For decades they have tried to get around the software part by outsourcing a one-time job to the lowest bidder, and then never want to update them. They’re more like the industrial automation companies (some of whom still have Windows XP machines running their CNCs), or medical device makers who get something certified with an exact version of Windows and never allow it to update.
Add to that, the Marketing guys who pitch unrealistic goals that need to be met in order for their plan to become profitable (“we can easily capture 50% of this market in our locked-in, proprietary protocol!”), and you have a train wreck any one can see coming a mile away.
These are companies who just don’t understand, and don’t want to understand, that these are long-term commitments that require full time development and operations staff to keep things going.
For decades they have tried to get around the software part by outsourcing a one-time job to the lowest bidder, and then never want to update them. They’re more like the industrial automation companies (some of whom still have Windows XP machines running their CNCs), or medical device makers who get something certified with an exact version of Windows and never allow it to update.
Add to that, the Marketing guys who pitch unrealistic goals that need to be met in order for their plan to become profitable (“we can easily capture 50% of this market in our locked-in, proprietary protocol!”), and you have a train wreck any one can see coming a mile away.
These are companies who just don’t understand, and don’t want to understand, that these are long-term commitments that require full time development and operations staff to keep things going.