Controlicz - Domoticz to Google Home/Assistant integration Topic is solved

[bueno79]

Yes a pay per months is right. But A discount for people paying one year subscription could be great.

Another point. Others solution in domotic use pluggin to control the system with google home. You can find such pluggin for 4$ (not a monthly fee). So the difference is huge.

Maybe Domoticz creator should work with you to host the solution if the cost issue is coming from this point.

best regards,
bueno

[bueno79]

ok just checked, the two biggest competitor of Domoticz purpose for free of 4S the plugging the compatibility with Alexa and Google Home...I think we have a competitive issue if we have to pay 3euro per months :-/

[DAVIZINHO]

To expensive for me, that i only use for test and freaks moments.

[Jurik]

preclaimer: this is my humble opinion!
I don't approve of this. I think it is unfair to ask a monthly fee. You started an open source project and should stick to that.
It is not fair to make it closed source all of a sudden after you have build up a userbase (and received a lot of feedback doing so).
Many users have put effort into testing YOUR solution...

As for the time you invested "all in your spare time", we are not being payed either (which is fair) and do it also all in our spare time. I see it as a hobby, not my dayjob.

I will never pay a monthly fee (3,- is absurdly high btw, but that is another debate). I am however tempted to donate if a project works for me.
This is one of my main reasons to have home automation all open source and COTS hardware, i.e. NOT to pay monthly fees.

Anyways, I hope you change your mind and stick to open source and donations as it is a good service.

Kind regards,

[Madgeni]

I am aware that this is a contentious issue. I won't be responding to every post on here, however feel i should be allowed to defend a few of the points raised:
There seems to be a view that Controlicz is open-sourced. It isn't, and never was. The original alexa release was, but proved too much of an overhead for me, and most of the users, as it required AWS accounts, serverless setups, OAUTH2 spoofing etc etc.
With respect, to compare the effort i've put in to developing, with the effort of using it is extremely unfair. Absolutely, Controlicz would not be what it is without you all, but that's the same as any service. Feedback is key.
The challenge of price is a fair one, however Home Assistant Cloud levies a charge of $5/month, so there is clearly a model there, and as they point out (as I have done), relying on donations to pay for hosting/dev time does *not* cover all of it, all of the time. If however you feel that Controlicz is not worth €3, then don't use it. There is a conflation going on here between open-source and free.

I fully understand the ramifications of what i'm doing, and how some of you will perceive me. It was never my intention to annoy, or drive people away, but equally, when some people say open-source, they mean free. and it's never free, someone pays, somewhere, and for the last 18 months or so, it's been me, either in cash terms, or sacrificing my evenings/weekends and sometimes days off to deliver Controlicz, for you.

[Jurik]

There seems to be a view that Controlicz is open-sourced. It isn't, and never was.

in your mail:
Hi – I first created what is now Controlicz all the way back in October 2016, initially open-sourcing the native Alexa smart home skill.

Hence my reference to open source. The way I see it, you can use it and colaborate. That is the way to "pay" for open source imho and or support it by donation.

If you needed serverspace for instance, I may have helped out.

[Madgeni]

There seems to be a view that Controlicz is open-sourced. It isn't, and never was.

in your mail:
Hi – I first created what is now Controlicz all the way back in October 2016, initially open-sourcing the native Alexa smart home skill.

Hence my reference to open source. The way I see it, you can use it and colaborate. That is the way to "pay" for open source imho and or support it by donation.

If you needed serverspace for instance, I may have helped out.

Controlicz has never been open-source. It has been closed source from day 1. I understand your annoyance at me, but keep it factual.

[bueno79]

yes but in edoomus it is include for free and 4$ the pluggin in Jeedom. And people on domoticz will pay 36euro per year ? I don't think it will work. People will move, stop to use the service or someone will develop the same for free...I don't know. Donations was not enought ?

[Madgeni]

eedomus is €299, i'd expect Google/Alexa integrations for that.
Jeedom's is currently "host your own" - their cloud solution is pending. last update - 2018-07-11 02:42:47

[HarR]

A very disappointing move.
You were offering a free service, you have been asking for donations. Donations which now turned out to have been used to develop a business model for you.
I would not have spent my time and money on your services had I known this was coming.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Madgeni]

Ok, that's quite unfair, but I guess i deserve them

[alanlsmith]

I'm quite happy to pay a subscription, as I was to donate a few times. Madgeni has put a lot of work, time and effort into Controlicz. As well as money.
Continuing support, development and the covering of fees can't continue on a donation basis, that's not fair.

If I want to expect a good, reliable service that is going to benefit me on a daily basis then I think it's only right that I should expect to pay for it. After all it's only a bottle of beer a month.

You can always get up and flick the light switch yourself and drink the beer.

[sincze]

@Madgeni I send you an offer to help out with the hosting. Maybe we can keep the costs low for the rest of the community.

[JonyBCN]

If the developer has decided that his work deserves it, I see no problem in converting it into a payment service. Work must always be rewarded, and it is the developer who must decide how and how much. And over time you can adjust the margins.
I live in Spain and last month Google started selling Google Home here. Since then I have been testing the service and I see it as reliable and robust. There would be no problem in a monthly payment (although a discount for annual payment would be perfect).
 That if, from the moment you charge, the service becomes professional and then it should be more complete. For example, in Spanish, things like "turn on" and "turn off" lights work perfectly. But commands like "adjust the intensity of the light" or "open or close the blinds" do not work.

 On the Controlicz website I see that the system detects them as blinds, so I do not think that is the problem. I assume it's something related to the language.
 On the other hand, dimmable lights detect them as normal switches. Those details, in a free service are assumed and you work with the developer to solve them. In a professional service they are expected to work.

[Madgeni]

I can't control the language - so open/close don't work in any language, i'm at the mercy of Google and Alexa i'm afraid.
Re: dimming lights being detected as switches, that's all on me. Mail me from your Controlicz profile and i'll fix it. A gentle reminder that Domoticz hardware support doesn't have any strict developer controls, so lights/switches have a very flexible approach to type/subtype/switchtype, and sometimes it needs me to work out how to handle all the myriad of hardware types.

I have had some really unpleasant emails from some of my users today, i've been accused of extortion, among other things. Whilst I understand you've had a service for free for quite some time, the fact that you attribute zero perceived value to it, and can feel free to attack me tells me more about some of you, than it does about me.

[bueno79]

yes you have to follow google and alexa integration but when I see it is still not possible to control custon selector, temperature sensor are see as a radiator head ("sensor is off and tempis..."...uh???), any switch or module ON/OFF are see as a light (so when you ask : open the garage, you have the answer : OK, I switch on the light garage...

for me this service (controliz) is based on a BETA solution !!! Hard to ask a such price for the moment maybe. And yes of course if people pay, expectations will be higher...you have to be ready

[bueno79]

I have had some really unpleasant emails from some of my users today, i've been accused of extortion, among other things. Whilst I understand you've had a service for free for quite some time, the fact that you attribute zero perceived value to it, and can feel free to attack me tells me more about some of you, than it does about me.

really sad to read this. We can discuss, approve or not; however we will respect your final solution and will pay or not the service.

[felix63]

I myself am not a great fan of subscription services. However if someone is providing an operational service depended on the 24/7 availability of servers charging a fee for that service and getting some compensation for the effort in developing a great piece of software and supporting often ignorant and impolite users then that is no more then reasonable. I myself am more than willing to pay 24 euros a year for such a service!

[Jurik]

Controlicz has never been open-source. It has been closed source from day 1. I understand your annoyance at me, but keep it factual.

Ok, fair enough, I did not comprehend that.

I did not mean to threat or anything, and I also resent the fact people did. I understand your decision, but do not approve. It is your right to do with it as you please.

From one developer to another, I think you have more to gain from an open source solution (yes free) and people who gladly contribute than a closed source solution. This with a paymodel and also the support you will have to give. People will expect support, not beta tests.

Again, with very kind regards,

Jurik

[bueno79]

Controlicz has never been open-source. It has been closed source from day 1. I understand your annoyance at me, but keep it factual.

Ok, fair enough, I did not comprehend that.

I did not mean to threat or anything, and I also resent the fact people did. I understand your decision, but do not approve. It is your right to do with it as you please.

From one developer to another, I think you have more to gain from an open source solution (yes free) and people who gladly contribute than a closed source solution. This with a paymodel and also the support you will have to give. People will expect support, not beta tests.

Again, with very kind regards,

Jurik

fully agree. Bad move for me.