Yes, their actual business might drop if they don't come up with "new and improved" things that have bugs also.
I think that X10 in general has a fairly poor reputation of things that kinda work, but have problems and aren't real reliable.
Creating things that ARE reliable would cost alot more to produce, costing money for R&D, etc., but I would think that if a little more effort was spent with better designs towards reliability, the X10 name would make a boost and in the long run, would drastically improve their overall sales.
Problem is, I think (my own opinion here) is that the bean counters at X10 want an "immediate fix" and don't really care about their existing credibility.
I wonder also, why the software developers don't seem to last very long???
Is it the working conditions? The pressure to turn out SOMETHING, even though it hasn't really been debugged, and let the users here in the forums debug it for them? This kind of thinking is also inherent with other software manufacturers... look at Microsoft/Apple/Autodesk/any company for that matter!!
Think of ALL the different OS platforms out there, and the unthinkable software installations that exist, and try to COexist with each other... IMPOSSIBLE to test ALL the different possibilities!!!
BUT.... as I have said before, some of the most BASIC bugs that people have found for X10's software doesn't rely on different system configurations.
One that I have stated is the lack of mouse WHEEL support for the different functions in AHP.
Take for example, the activity monitor window.... why doesn't the mouse scroll wheel work for scrolling in the window?
Why doesn't the mouse scroll wheel work for setting the dim level? It is very difficult to precisley set the dim level with the mouse pointer, and you cannot manually type the dim level in the text box!!!! WHY NOT! It isn't a text box, probably!!!
Why doesn't the scroll wheel work in ANY window???
Why doesn't ALT-F4 close AHP??? EVERY other app does!!! It is a well known Windows hot key!
Why are the buttons on the taskbar labeled the SAME! AHP and activity monitor have the SAME title, so you don't know which one to click on to switch windows!
Why can't you select a different printer for labels?
My feeling is if you are going to write a windows application, USE THE STANDARD WINDOWS CONTROLS!!!! There is NOT secret for these!
I have MANY more BASIC windows functionality that should have been available in AHP but are NOT!
Not the best way to run a company, but I guess they think it is working for them....
I have seen all too many posts from new people to X10 indicating that "this stuff is junk", and I have to somewhat agree that X10 at best is shaky, but there is enough long term exposure from others here, that with our long term effort to make this otherwise unreliable equipment work somewhat better, with mods and tips and tricks, that WE on this forum are actually HELPING X10!
I had SMarthome's 1132cup interface and it worked VERY well and the software did NOT have all the problems that AHP does, AND it had the basic windows functionality! It just didn't support the new dimmers! I had bought several of the smarthome lamp modules that worked great, BUT smarthome's software DID have a very minor bug for setting scenes and smarthome did not want to fix it!
After reading alot of posts here, I took the AHP plunge, and on my first download, I got the crash popup! That ticked me off!!! I said to myself... "another X10 product!, I should have known!".
I am VERY slowly starting to like AHP, but HATE the interface (software) and the clunky look! Huge icons/text/pretty pictures... and no way to get rid or change them!
I could, and probably will in the future, go on and on, and I am sure that there are some here that will bash me, but deep down, they know what I am talking about, and I know that I am NOT the only one!!!
These boards are full of people that are new to (like me) have had X10 since it first came out under the BSR name with the brown modules( I still have several). I bought my first starter BSR kit from Perry Truman (a government employee only store, like Fedco) in 78'ish, then got the CP290 which I still have and several timers, led and flourescent displays, so I am VERY familiar with X10 and I know what I am talking about!
ENOUGH FOR NOW!!!
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Topic: New AHP Versions 3.312 and 3.313 Released 4/25/2011 (Read 13018 times)