We're old... were not idiots! Everything changes. The technology advances... in small little incremental steps. You guys are all likely better educated and trained than myself. This isn't that difficult to keep up with... and certainly NOTHING to be afraid of. The technology of the 70's and 80's was nice stuff. But the new stuff is MUCH better.
Jeepers, I've been doing home automation since the original brown BSR modules came out. They still work today. I buy what I need or want. I don't want to be interrupted by a cellphone, and am annoyed by people who interrupt their conversations to accept a cellphone call. That is why we do not do any telephone support. As I said earlier, I keep one in my backpack just in case.
I built my own computer from components back before even the Apple or Commodore were available. That ran an operating similar to DOS, and I used it for years developing factory automation equipment. Now we have 6 Windows computers ranging from this 15-year old XP workhorse to three newer Windows 7 systems, and even a tablet to access the web when we are on the road. I'll admit the Windows 7 quad-core I built is much faster than this PC, but this still does the job for my engineering applications, email, and web access to sites like this.
I see no need to update our automation system because it essentially does everything we want it to do. The house takes care of itself whether we are here or not. Why should I need a cellphone to access it when a nearby PalmPad can control everything?
We watch movies in our theater room on a 120 inch screen. The projector doesn't support 3D, but we have 4 subwoofers that can do justice to any sound track. And our Oppo video player can support any current media from commercial BluRay and DVDs to just about any video format on a USB memory stick. Our other equipment supports everything from VHS to web streaming. So we are pretty current there.
Jeff
