good luck to HouseBot users and ScottBot

TakeFlight · Post by **TakeFlight** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 10:25 pm

I felt compelled to write this message since I've gotten asssistance from many on this forum with my HouseBot project. I've been running HouseBot for about 6 or 7 months now but recently I decided to take a look at the HomeSeer trial. After duplicating a good part of my HouseBot configuration in HomeSeer I decided I really like it and bought it. There are many reasons for this decision. One of the biggest is that HomeSeer has much larger hardware support and many more plugins available. Although, many of them do come at a cost. The cost factor was my original reason for purchasing HouseBot. You just can't beat it for the price you pay. However, as with everything in life, you get what you pay for as well. So, while HouseBot does offer great bang for the buck, it still does have limitations. The biggest issue for me is the lack of activity in the support forum. Please don't misinterpret this message. I'm not trying to be negative or knock HouseBot. I feel quite the opposite actually. I think the frequent users on this forum are great people and a great resource. But, they are limited in numbers at this time. And I really have nothing but praise for ScottBot and the hours of support he puts in (even during the time when it was Meedio owned). In the end, after playing with the trial I just felt that HomeSeer was a better fit for what I'm trying to accomplish with home automation. It wasn't an easy decision since I've invested many hours (actually days) of cumulative time on my HouseBot configuration.

I really wish the best to everyone here and I will definitely keep an eye on this forum from time to time to see what's new.

Thanks everyone

talisman · Post by **talisman** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 11:29 am

Good luck mate.

Im sure given a bit of time Scottbot will come up with a larger area hardware support, but that will be in time.

Im sure he is busy as hell at the mo working on a new release.

TakeFlight · Post by **TakeFlight** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 5:08 pm

Thanks

I agree. I hope to see HouseBot become a much more widely used product like HomeSeer one day. I have to admit that I hate losing the software remote capability. That was the one feature (in additional to all the work I put into setting up HouseBot) that didn't make for an easy decision.

HB Guy · Post by **HB Guy** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 10:27 pm

Ditto.

Lukewarm community involvement was the reason that caused me to look elsewhere. HouseBot is an amazing product but, given the nature of Home Automation, you need an active community contributing not only its expertise but new functionality.

I've moved on to MisterHouse because it is free, open-source, does a million and one things, and has a dedicated group of contributors. It has a steep learning curve (knowing some Perl is a must), supports X10 exclusively, and stores its data in a gazillion and one separate files. Yet, it has a tremendous feature set built mostly by its loyal supporters.

Many thanks to Scott and everyone who helped me with HouseBot. I hope people find use for the Script Devices I contributed. So long and thanks for all the fish!

JonFo · Post by **JonFo** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 6:09 pm

Happy trails!

One reason why community postings are low is that HB actually works. So why hang out every week on a forum talking about your stuff that works. Most people would rather watch a movie.

I know that's one reason my visits are infrequent here.

I do make a point of coming by every so often and sharing solutions or looking for help. But if the app does its thing right, and most of your A/V gear works realiably, then the need to hang is limited.

Post by **Richard Naninck** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 12:00 pm

+1

HB actually does work. I still check the forum on a daily basis, but ran out of questions since everthing works fine. I guess activity will rise when 3.0 is released. This will probably take some time, but hey...