MIOS Acquisition

[quote=“zedrally, post:167, topic:199656”]Questions regarding the fate of the current Vera versions remain unanswered.
OK I’ll keep it simple and hope there is a Yes/No answer.
Are there going to be new Vera modals or is it end of line for the Edge, Plus & Secure.
All that we are getting is how great it will be but no roadmap.[/quote]

We will continue to support current models for foreseeable future.

We will add other platforms to the mix as well.

[quote=“lastmacuser, post:173, topic:199656”][quote=“melih, post:135, topic:199656”][quote=“lastmacuser, post:133, topic:199656”][quote=“melih, post:131, topic:199656”]We have a different business model…We believe the future of home automation is in being a platform and not selling hardware.
We will make money from other services that requires home automation…We see many brand new services from home security to facial recognition to many other services being common place in the future. We want our platform to create an ecosystem to provide these services.[/quote]

With that platform approach, are you seeing any hardware? Or are we looking at tablet, phone based software only.[/quote]

Totally, a lot of hardware! I see us innovating cost effective hardware and push it to market via our partners.[/quote]

I am a little confused here. You won’t be selling the hardware. Who are these partners?[/quote]

I said, we will be reducing the hardware cost.

You have to give them some time. The change their tone on this forum is dramatic and welcome. But re-writing the firmware to be stable? Needs time…[/quote]

Yep…will take time… we expect 3-6 months to start seeing “initial output” of the work we will be doing. But once it starts, it will come thick and fast!

Melih, your organisation said: keep them coming. can you please stress this one!?

http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,63352.0.html

It is out for over a year and still this problem exists!

[quote=“Sender, post:178, topic:199656”]Melih, your organisation said: keep them coming. can you please stress this one!?

http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,63352.0.html

It is out for over a year and still this problem exists![/quote]

Sorin and his team has collected all this and put it into developers…now they have a full visibility of what all the requirements are…
They are running 2 week development sprints followed by monthly public releases…they are about to finish their first sprint on monday…
Some teams did better than i expected…some teams did as I expected…the work has officially started! It will initially take some time…but once we are rock and rolling, there will be no stopping us! Bear with us pls…we are moving all steam ahead!

Melih and the eZlo team: welcome aboard, some energy and new ideas are very welcome, and results would be magical.

I started with Vera 10 years ago, as one of the original Beta Testers and have been through innumerable Veras and firmwares. Wow, this has been a rough ride. I am not as active with Vera today as the ROI and my time:results ratio just didnt justify the increased blood pressure cost.

The brilliant and dedicated Vera enthusiasts here will undoubtedly provide you all the feedback, features, direction and practical input you will need (and then some!).

However, one thing that you keep mentioning gives me cause for concern: cost.

I am betting that you will find no one who has stuck with Vera will complain about the cost of the box. That?s not the issue. Seriously, every company that goes cheap on hardware punishes it?s users unnecessarily. The Home Automation market isn?t broke college students, it?s made up of people who can pay for the ability to control their homes.

Make a product that works reliably, is extensible (and survives updates), allows sophisticated operation without SSH, terminal and lua file uploads, and maybe even pretends to value my time as the end user and you will have a roaring success on your hands. Don?t see us as just customers, but as Members and be Member 1st in your practices.

If I?m paying $50 for a Zwave switch, I can throw down the dosh for s controller that makes them useful… Cheap typically ain?t Good.

Best of luck, sounds like the cavalry is coming over the hill. Fingers crossed.
.//A.

P.S.: you will gain undying gratitude from many here by simply abolishing the absurd Firmware nag screen takeovers. That single thing encapsulates the entire MIOS PoV.

1 Like

I strongly echo - the cost of the controller is not an issue. An easy to use UI that works is what we need.

My Vera 3 is still going strong. The AltHue plug-in I installed tonight - flawless. Within minutes of installing it, it was controlling my 1 bulb (the other 3 are to come when I have time). Did not even try the Hue or Hue 2 plug-ins since this forum warned me it is broken. I was worried I would spend hours trying to get everything - but nope, working within minutes on the first try.

Well said, and some of the statements here by Melih along this line of hardware cost concern me.

When it was finally time for me to upgrade to UI7 back in January I went ahead and bought a VeraSecure instead of upgrading my Vera3. Why? Because I knew I would spend several days on the migration, and the risk that the Vera3 hardware was not robust enough to do everything I wanted under UI7 was not worth saving the $299 price of the VeraSecure.

(I actually planned ahead for the upgrade and got a Black Friday sale price - although truly I would have paid full price had it not been for the sale).

Well said, and some of the statements here by Melih along this line of hardware cost concern me.

When it was finally time for me to upgrade to UI7 back in January I went ahead and bought a VeraSecure instead of upgrading my Vera3. Why? Because I knew I would spend several days on the migration, and the risk that the Vera3 hardware was not robust enough to do everything I wanted under UI7 was not worth saving the $299 price of the VeraSecure.

(I actually planned ahead for the upgrade and got a Black Friday sale price - although truly I would have paid full price had it not been for the sale).[/quote]

Can someone explain what is wrong with making a better, faster, smaller more stable product and do so cheaper? These are basic pillars of improvements in technology! You don’t see Computers getting bigger, slower and more expensive do you??

Anyone who wants to pay the difference between old price and new price can make a donation to their favorite charity!

Well said, and some of the statements here by Melih along this line of hardware cost concern me.

When it was finally time for me to upgrade to UI7 back in January I went ahead and bought a VeraSecure instead of upgrading my Vera3. Why? Because I knew I would spend several days on the migration, and the risk that the Vera3 hardware was not robust enough to do everything I wanted under UI7 was not worth saving the $299 price of the VeraSecure.

(I actually planned ahead for the upgrade and got a Black Friday sale price - although truly I would have paid full price had it not been for the sale).[/quote]

Can someone explain what is wrong with making a better, faster, smaller more stable product and do so cheaper? These are basic pillars of improvements in technology! You don’t see Computers getting bigger, slower and more expensive do you??

Anyone who wants to pay the difference between old price and new price can make a donation to their favorite charity![/quote]

I think everybody would go crazy with better, faster, smaller, more stable and cheaper. Unfortunately for a lot of people on this board, it has been promised a million times and has never come to fruition.

One factor i haven’t seen metioned is the lifespan of the new controllers.
This is usually a big downside to the cheaper sort of consumer electronics, where you almost have to count in a replacement after 1-2 years. I would always go for the more expensive alternative if it promised a longer usable life.

HA controllers usually have a protected life on some shelf indoors, and consdering the reasonably low performance requirements, it should be no problem to keep it running for 5-10 years.

Not saying this is a problem for Vera or eZLO, i’ just interested in your thougts on it.

@Melih I think that some of us are concerned that you will have trouble making enough money to continue software development if you start selling the controllers to cheep.

If you have now doubled the development resources you will have to make double the profit of each sold device.

What people are saying is that if you have good “stable” controller(s) to sell you will not have to keep the price unnecessary low to be able to sell devices anyway.

[quote=“korttoma, post:186, topic:199656”]@Melih I think that some of us are concerned that you will have trouble making enough money to continue software development if you start selling the controllers to cheep.

If you have now doubled the development resources you will have to make double the profit of each sold device.

What people are saying is that if you have good “stable” controller(s) to sell you will not have to keep the price unnecessary low to be able to sell devices anyway.[/quote]

That is a very valid point.

On the other hand, if they succeed in creating better, faster, smaller, more stable and cheaper, they will increase market share. This market is going to be huge going forward, so the loss in margin can easily be compensated with volume. And that is probably the right way to go if you want to rule the world. Of course, both volume and high margin is even better, but this is probably not the right kind of market for that, besides it is very hard to achieve.

[quote=“Forzaalfa, post:185, topic:199656”]One factor i haven’t seen metioned is the lifespan of the new controllers.
This is usually a big downside to the cheaper sort of consumer electronics, where you almost have to count in a replacement after 1-2 years. I would always go for the more expensive alternative if it promised a longer usable life.

HA controllers usually have a protected life on some shelf indoors, and consdering the reasonably low performance requirements, it should be no problem to keep it running for 5-10 years.

Not saying this is a problem for Vera or eZLO, i’ just interested in your thougts on it.[/quote]

Because our business model is NOT making money from hardware, its our interest to give you something that is rock solid, cost effective, fast and lasts a long time!

[quote=“korttoma, post:186, topic:199656”]@Melih I think that some of us are concerned that you will have trouble making enough money to continue software development if you start selling the controllers to cheep.

If you have now doubled the development resources you will have to make double the profit of each sold device.

What people are saying is that if you have good “stable” controller(s) to sell you will not have to keep the price unnecessary low to be able to sell devices anyway.[/quote]

Thank you, I think the business model of making money from hardware will make less money in the long run as a controller provider. Its the wrong business model.

I think that if you do not havce a complete working eco system you will fail. Meaning that currently the hardware is fine and if you choose a model to make your software “hardware undependable” this will introduce all other kinds of problems and issues.

It would be best to fix the pile you have now instead of trying to be the next Elon.

Although, underpowered in the grand scheme of things, it was more than adequate when UI5 and earlier was deployed. It wasn’t until recent years there was a disastrous shift in philosophy that lead to the demise of Vera. Just fixing that mess sould be Paramount above all else. Selling a new product when the current base is vocal about the problems of the current product line is not reassuring to potential buyers.

Unfortunately I think you’re right. It will be very difficult to build a business model based on just selling hardware a few couple of times, this will not provide a stable income for the company and It’s the same for apps. The solution, of course, is to have a service model connected that provides a stable income to the company and developers.
I bought a Vera to stay away from monthly or yearly fees but realized that this model just provides us with insufficient and unstable updates, slow inclusion of new hardware, probably due to lack of resources (although the support is +1).
I’m well in to the DIY with Pi’s and Ardunio’s but for my home I, and family :), want a stable system that dosen’t need a lot of attention and fixing all the time. But there are some important things to consider: stability, security, local and friendly. Then, I can also consider a service model with reasonable fees.

I completely agree. But lots of people on this forum are die-hard set against monthly fees. If somehow the switch to a modest monthly fee makes Vera better, stronger, faster, I am open it to…

In any system if you assume you will make one part of it crap, of course its bound to fail. I don’t understand why you are making the assumption that hardware will be crap?