re: Looking to the Future: Indigo Up-to-Date

I saw the blog post about "Indigo up to date" a couple of weeks ago and it took me a while to digest the information... I am not enthusiastic about it at all. One of the major draws was having the software without a subscription and paying the $30.00 a year to connect to the prism / reflector. This was ideal for me. The real killer of the subscription model for me is the fact that the prism / reflector is only available to those who have an active subscription. Unless there is some killer feature in Indigo 7, I will be moving on to another program, specifically OpenHAB. This forum and the people here have been great and helped me out a lot and I wish that Matt & Jay the best of luck with Indigo, but I also wish they did not go down this road with Indigo, this is not a road that I am willing to travel.
I have already started tinkering with OpenHAB and so far, it has taken over the duties of Indigo 6 without missing a beat. Since it is running on a Raspberry Pi, it is using a lot less power and I don't have to leave my Mac running 24/7. OpenHAB has a pretty extensive database and a very knowledgable user base, just like Indigo and the members here. My whole goal with home automation was to make my life easier without incurring another subscription that I do not need, and it certainly appears that Indigo no longer fits that goal.

I feel the same way mate and I am taking the same OpenHAB route as I am exploring it. I don't have a complex environment and I hope OpenHAB will do the trick. I wish they will take a Home and Business / Professional versions route. For what I have and need I don't want to pay this stupid subscription model. Is like stealing my money.

As for Matt & Jay sure great folks but some of the decisions are really questionable. As I said before just inventing more ways to milk the same cow. It may work it may not but hey this is capitalism for y'all.

I saw the blog post about "Indigo up to date" a couple of weeks ago and it took me a while to digest the information... I am not enthusiastic about it at all. One of the major draws was having the software without a subscription and paying the $30.00 a year to connect to the prism / reflector. This was ideal for me. The real killer of the subscription model for me is the fact that the prism / reflector is only available to those who have an active subscription. Unless there is some killer feature in Indigo 7, I will be moving on to another program, specifically OpenHAB. This forum and the people here have been great and helped me out a lot and I wish that Matt & Jay the best of luck with Indigo, but I also wish they did not go down this road with Indigo, this is not a road that I am willing to travel.
I have already started tinkering with OpenHAB and so far, it has taken over the duties of Indigo 6 without missing a beat. Since it is running on a Raspberry Pi, it is using a lot less power and I don't have to leave my Mac running 24/7. OpenHAB has a pretty extensive database and a very knowledgable user base, just like Indigo and the members here. My whole goal with home automation was to make my life easier without incurring another subscription that I do not need, and it certainly appears that Indigo no longer fits that goal.

I feel the same way mate and I am taking the same OpenHAB route as I am exploring it. I don't have a complex environment and I hope OpenHAB will do the trick. I wish they will take a Home and Business / Professional versions route. For what I have and need I don't want to pay this stupid subscription model. Is like stealing my money.

As for Matt & Jay sure great folks but some of the decisions are really questionable. As I said before just inventing more ways to milk the same cow. It may work it may not but hey this is capitalism for y'all.

I saw the blog post about "Indigo up to date" a couple of weeks ago and it took me a while to digest the information... I am not enthusiastic about it at all. One of the major draws was having the software without a subscription and paying the $30.00 a year to connect to the prism / reflector. This was ideal for me. The real killer of the subscription model for me is the fact that the prism / reflector is only available to those who have an active subscription. Unless there is some killer feature in Indigo 7, I will be moving on to another program, specifically OpenHAB. This forum and the people here have been great and helped me out a lot and I wish that Matt & Jay the best of luck with Indigo, but I also wish they did not go down this road with Indigo, this is not a road that I am willing to travel.
I have already started tinkering with OpenHAB and so far, it has taken over the duties of Indigo 6 without missing a beat. Since it is running on a Raspberry Pi, it is using a lot less power and I don't have to leave my Mac running 24/7. OpenHAB has a pretty extensive database and a very knowledgable user base, just like Indigo and the members here. My whole goal with home automation was to make my life easier without incurring another subscription that I do not need, and it certainly appears that Indigo no longer fits that goal.

I was a little hesitant to comment again after the other thread got derailed.

OpenHAB is pretty cool and I have played around with it a little, but I don't think this is about OpenHAB. Generally when I see posts like this on any product forum I get the feeling it is less about the <competitor/open source> alternative. It seems, to me, more that the poster wants to stay on the platform but doesn't like some aspect of it or where it is going.

Let's review what we know:
* A blog post has been posted around a potential future direction for Indigo

And that is pretty much it. There has been no actual announcement yet, as far as I can see. It is a blog post so I'm assuming the guys wanted to gauge the feedback (otherwise just announce it with all the details and move on.)

I think using the word 'subscription' in the blog post has turned out to be a mistake. What has been described is not a subscription model in my head. Renting Adobe products is one, the current model for reflector/prism is also a subscription model.

With or without the new pricing model, version 7 will be a paid upgrade. There is no change here. At the time of release I will assess what v7 would give me and buy it, or not. Either way I will have a copy of Indigo that i do not need to spend any more money on. Same thing will happen at version 8, 9, etc.

With the new model if I bought v7 I would be paying ahead for minor version releases for v7 for a time period. After that I could chose to get more features on the v7 product, or not. I would decide as those features came out. Bug fixes I would get for free.

Of course, paying ahead and bundling in Prism is likely to make the v7 product more expensive than previous releases. Personally it would have to be a huge price increase to make me think twice, as the software cost is nothing compared to the zwave devices costs. There is also quite a lot of pricing latitude between current Indigo v6 Pro costs and competitors. I don't consider OpenHAB to be 'free' either. Personally this is a semi-serious hobby for me, so I enjoy tinkering in Indigo and OpenHAB. Others would put a cost on their time or, worse, costs in getting a professional to set things up.

Everyone will make that choice once v7 is released and the price is set. If the features don't excite you and your set up is simple, carry on using Indigo 6 and don't pay anything more.

Except Prism. I kinda ignored this as I don't use it. It will be interesting to see if Prism subscription will only be part of the product payment, or can continue as per the current model.

I would say that if you have the skills to contemplate OpenHAB then you do not need Prism.

Sam.

As OpenHAB is a viable alternative I think Apple's HomeKit will eat everyone's lunch. Is just a question of time and the days are numbered. If you look at CES announcements this year a lot of technologies are being added to the HomeKit. I wouldn't be surprised to see Insteon , Z-Wave and others jumping on the HomeKit wagon. Watch it unfold for the next year or so.

I'll second autolog's emotion
we're in a niche space, not mass market and feeding the hands that feed us makes sense to me