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[HA Dave]

X10's problem is that they may think they're a home automation company but they're not. They're simply a marketing company that sells hardware.  They've made some minor tweaks to a forty year old technology to keep selling modules but have never really integrated with other products.  They didn't even have the foresight to include an Alexa skill in their one new product and still haven't two years later!

I love the progress home automation is making. I hate seeing X10 left behind.

[petera]

I wonder what will be written about ZWave and Zigbee and such like in 40 years time. Will they still be around. I doubt it as much as I doubt the current X10 forum membership will be around to read about it.

Alexa and it's current contenders are just a crop of technologies that will depart the scene as quickly as they arrived to be replaced by something more interesting and amusing. In fact I wonder how many of todays technologies will interface with anything in 40 years time.

The fact is that X10 does work today as it did 40 years ago with a few minor enhancements. There's as many software interfaces for X10 hardware as you can shake a stick at. A basic simple free web UI attached to your network with UNPnP installed and all your X10 devices are available to use. Couple this with one of the many home automation apps available free to download to your phone and you have both local and remote access to your X10 devices and of course the much requested Alexa control.

While there's still people willing to make X10 work with today's software there will be a future for X10. I wouldn't be depending on any commercial outfit to do this but thankfully there are plenty of productive communities working in the background to continue this good work.

[HA Dave]

Not a problem, but with Authinx, I'm not so sure about the fatality part.

Sadly. You’re correct.

[brobin]

While there's still people willing to make X10 work with today's software there will be a future for X10. I wouldn't be depending on any commercial outfit to do this but thankfully there are plenty of productive communities working in the background to continue this good work.

For X10 to remain viable as a company they have to sell products.  Most of us here have a lifetime supply of X10 bits already and won't be spending much, if anything, with X10. The stuff will continue to work as long as wires carry electricity in our homes but, sadly, the company can't survive.

[petera]

While there's still people willing to make X10 work with today's software there will be a future for X10. I wouldn't be depending on any commercial outfit to do this but thankfully there are plenty of productive communities working in the background to continue this good work.

For X10 to remain viable as a company they have to sell products.  Most of us here have a lifetime supply of X10 bits already and won't be spending much, if anything, with X10. The stuff will continue to work as long as wires carry electricity in our homes but, sadly, the company can't survive.

And long last new technology innovation. Gives users of X10 hardware the opportunity to buy job lots on eBay for a fraction of their original purchase price. Stocking up on spares as and when they become available. Not much future for today's X10 manufacturers as you say.

[HA Dave]

.... Most of us here have a lifetime supply of X10 bits already and won't be spending much, if anything, with X10..... the company can't survive. 

Everything worth inventing has already been invented.

Charles H. Duell was the Commissioner of US patent office in 1899. Mr. Deull's most famous attributed utterance is that "everything that can be invented has been invented." Most patent attorneys have also heard that the quote is apocryphal.

I had hoped with this thread (and others) to point out that much... if not MOST.... of what I am doing with Home Automation today was not even theoretical a dozen years ago. Although I have always (well... nearly 20 years) thought, planned, and made real efforts to have a true "smart home". I even had (a windows based) voice control a decade before Amazon and Google devices.

Turning lights, (and sprinklers) on and off (using elaborate means).... has been what X10 excelled at. But Home Automation itself has changed. What we will be doing with this Home Automation stuff in the next decade... hasn't even been dreamed up yet. X10... and every member of these forums... has the ability to dream as big and as bold as anyone else anywhere on Earth.

[bkenobi]

It's true that X10 has never been as slick as the newer technologies that do the work for you.  The problem is, when those companies don't see sufficient profit, they shut the door and say "tough luck kid!"  We've seen this over and over.  The latest is with Spectrum who use an open standard (Zigbee) but then lock the firmware to not work outside their environment.
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20191212/12271843569/spectrum-customers-stuck-with-thousands-home-security-gear-they-cant-use.shtml

As a result, people who invested hundreds at least (one reported $1200) are stuck without a way to use the products.  There is no way you can trust a commercial enterprise to keep a closed standard on a proprietary server running for any length of time.  Heck, I imagine the users of Spectrum's system figured they were safe since it was Zigbee in the backbone.  Turns out, not so much.

[petera]

Yes and with the shut shop comes another doorstop controller and nobody either willing or able to provide any further support for it. The same can’t be said of X10. Here we are still discussing it and some even a bit more than that.

The idea of a manufacturer providing and maintaining server facilities for their product long term is a bit of a pipe dream. Best they just supply the hardware along with the protocol and get on with their next venture instead of trying to lock in their customer base.

[bkenobi]

If only they could all do like itead Sonoff and provide the cloud based devices people want today as well as leaving the hardware hackable so when they lose interest, users have more than a paper weight.

[petera]

Yes the open source approach. They get to build and sell the hardware and leave the rest to the user. Closed source has a limited life cycle. In fairness some companies took that approach in the past. As soon as they finished with their product they released the protocol into the wild and let others add their own spin to it. Some very interesting projects grew out of this concept.

I think the goal these days is to sweat as much profit as possible from the marketplace and kill the project and move on to the next great idea. X10 is a complete polar opposite.

[HA Dave]

Maybe you guys missed the memo..... most of this automation stuff is what's called "cutting edge". OR... like most hobbyists call their ever-changing equipment "Bleeding edge".   

I paid well over a thousand bucks for my (Linux based) flat-screen TV, some years ago. But it was HUGE... being over 40 inches. Much better than the 36 inch (non-processor driven) tubed TV it replaced (although the price was similar). I've regularly upgraded or rebuilt my home theater as video technology changes with the seasons.

New technologies will come... and GO. You don't have to play.... but it is a pay-to-play world. If you want to enjoy a hobby like Home Automation the first thing you need to do is get yourself some money. 

There is NO WAY... anyone can sell products without a profit... and stay in business.

Many of the products being sold today.... will be pitched for trash in the not too distance future. I am sure every adult buying these products knows that. All this can be said about X10 (again), Microsoft, Apple, any and every android or Linux version... all of it. But most adults also know and accept... that life isn't forever either. We need to live it and enjoy it today. Worrying about someone else "making a buck" will never improve you own... or anyone else life.
 

[bkenobi]

Perhaps someone missed the memo, but apparently the world is getting warmer because we cut down all the trees to use in Alexa gadgets.  But, if we just throw them in a landfill, they will become rain forests again.  No worries.

[HA Dave]

Perhaps someone missed the memo, but apparently the world is getting warmer because we cut down all the trees to use in Alexa gadgets.  But, if we just throw them in a landfill, they will become rain forests again.  No worries.

Oh give me a break! I am not some 13 year old girl. The "world" has already been warmer... AND COLDER. the only consistency about weather/climate... is it changes.

Fearful humans have been wringing their [collective] hands worrying about the "End-of-Days" since.... the beginning. It's (the FEAR) is in our DNA! You don't have to use the Internet to announce to the world how fearful you are. Most of us understand the human condition.... even if you don't. Don't let your deep-rooted superstitions control your feelings and your ability to reason.

Mankind can NOT crawl back to our caves. We are on a forward looking-moving journey. And like it or NOT.... there is NO turning back. MILLIONS of Luddites have fallen to way-side before you..... and countless millions or even BILLIONS more will also past into the history of the forgotten.   

[dave w]

Oh give me a break! I am not some 13 year old girl. The "world" has already been warmer... AND COLDER. the only consistency about weather/climate... is it changes.

Apparently Gretta is upset that her finger wagging and sneers did not spur the UN into ordering CO2 filters be tamped up cows butts.

[HA Dave]

Apparently Gretta is upset that her finger wagging and sneers did not spur the UN into ordering CO2 filters be tamped up cows butts.

How DARE they! I feel so sorry for Gretta. Child performers trade their childhoods for fame. I hope it works out well for her.