The advent of the BSR X10 computer interface, which was a bit clumsy to program through the computer and if I recall ran off of Win 98, was probably one of the best timers on the X10 sales book. I assume it was in competition with a great model that was made by ( another company ). This was a stand alone device that let you program any house code, 99 devices per code, it would turn on, turn off, it would dim or brighten, program times both normal and random, with battery backup and when there was a power outage, upon return of power, it would run through the current program to reset all the lighting and switch boxes. It had a simple key pad for programming, very easy and did a whole lot for its size. And it was not that expensive. It was far superior to today's mini timer which at a little over a year old has the number digits going out.
Why Can't X10 make a stand alone timer, that does all that the original interface did without needing a computer. It would be all of the ease of the mini timer, only a bit larger and yet so much more superior a product than the simple mini timer of today that seems not to be built very well.
Hey X10, wake up, This was a good idea back then, its a good idea now...