Just to throw out my 2 cents into the ringer on this whole topic.
I am looking at this from a couple of perspectives.
First, for all the developers and community members that are privy to all this information and understand a lot of the underlying issues, some going back to the beginning and others like myself, fairly new (last 4 months), some of the community members are taking things “in stride” and dealing with what the SmartThings staff referred to I think as “minor inconveniences” of a few BRICKED hubs, and some of those individuals are pleased and happy to deal with the issues because the staff (SmartThings) gives verbose updates on the internal struggles and issues happening within SmartThings, and then you have some of these developers who have given their time and effort to bring to us consumers, free SmartApps and things that enhance our experience and function within the SmartThings platform, and I saw a post by RBoy about his business (he’s not just a person running a single hub at home for his own pleasure) and the effects that this type of delivery mechanism that SmartThings is trying to roll out could have such an adverse affect in the marketplace and industry, not just for Samsung but the Smart Home space. This space is still in its infancy and growing at such a rapid pace, there are other players that are catching up and may exceed what SmartThings offers that other companies haven’t done as of yet, but they are coming and some will be successful and others won’t, but as these companies start bridging the gaps between all of the functionality, compatibility and devices out there, someone will end up winning the consolidation of all these items that we hope for in a single monitoring hub rather than it covers 90% of my devices. There’s the new Vera Secure Hub (being released soon) which I plan on buying and comparing side by side with what SmartThings has to offer today. There is the B.One Hub which who knows if it will ever be delivered on and the promises that this Hub says can deliver, and then finally there’s Nest, who after last years debacle, possibly have their act in order and there are rumors that they are going to introduce their own Hub and sensors to go along with it (yes I’m a little biased because I love overall what the nest products do on their own wrapped up together in their own little world - yes they make it difficult for integrating and making compatible into other Hubs and products…). While I personally appreciate the candidness by the SmartThings staff to open up and give us a complete and published write up as to the WOOOOOOAHHHHHS that are being experienced with this Firmware Upgrade, this is the wrong way to go about business. First, there is No Migration Tool (Yes someone beat the crap out of the horse so that is dead and it isn’t lost on the SmartThings staff, yet the carcass is still there), no way for an individual with a Hub to defer the timing of the Firmware upgrade (I have more points on this in the next section). This is being touted as something that needs to go in now so that future upgrades will be a drop in the bucket moving forward. Understood to a certain degree, but there is NO reason that you shouldn’t at a minimum allow the DEFERRING of the Firmware Upgrade until someone can plan out what they need to do prior to performing the upgrade and anything that they can do to mitigate issues in the event that they end up with some sort of catastrophic failure. So this brings me to my next perspective and the external customers (not the people on this list who have an inside edge on the crap going on).
So forget that this SmartThings community exists for a moment. I’m a single user who doesn’t mind some inconveniences, albeit frustrating at times, I have the luxury of dealing with issues and things breaking and maybe needing to restore some functionality or back something out within SmartThings and being part of this community makes that a lot easier to do. But my major concern that SmartThings feels that they can treat their platform as some sort of ongoing development environment for ALL the Customers / Consumers of this product. I am going to assume that a larger percentage of SmartThings customers do not belong to this community. So someone walks into a Best Buy or a Home Depot and they see the SmartThings Startup Package on the shelf. A basic customer with some basic needs for a DIY Security system in their home. As a potential customer from the outside looking in, I do a little due dilligence up front, compare some reviews, yada yada yada. (when all of these negative reviews within the community start making it outside and end up showing more negative than the positive touts and can dos of SmartThings, Samsung will start to see this negative trickle down affect and people will stop purchasing or referring this system as the one of the future). All it takes is a few articles by some of the major media outlets to create a downward spiral for a product. Sorry, getting off track. Back to the basic customer purchasing this product. They are looking for something that:
- Ease of installation (plug and play) - Not all the bells and whistles we have all come to love with custom Smart Apps, Action Tiles, etc…
- Ease of maintenance (Easy addition of devices and simplicity in upgrading product)
- Peace of mind - The main purpose of purchasing is to be able to know that your house is safe and secure while you are away, for the most part.
Most of these customers are not going into the back end and logging into IDE to create Device Handlers or Smart Apps or change the settings, etc… Yes, these are things that the community members like to do because they are a different type of customer. But the basic customer (THE MASSES) purchased this product and will likely setup some basic things that work with SmartThings OOTB (Out of the Box) with very little required to setup.Their expectations of this retail product after a simple setup, discovery of their “Works with SmartThings” devices (maybe a Samsung Camera, a Hue Light Bulb and couple of Motion Sensors) and they setup an automation that arms / disarms their system. A very basic setup that doesn’t require them to have to investigate an issue or troubleshoot some functionality that is an add on. I am willing to bet that more of us community members (not the developers) were led to the community because of shortcomings or issues we experienced with setting up something specifically within SmartThings, whether supported, or some advanced functionality not given OOTB. My point of all this being, that most customers don’t know that all this crap is transpiring in the background and are not privvy to this information out there in the community and are just not aware and frankly shouldn’t have to depending on the intent of what they wanted to do with this RETAIL product sold in stores, not some die hard user that wants to reinvent the world within SmartThings, just an average Joe or Jane wanting to bring some sort of sense of security within their own domain. So now, with this FORCED Firmware Upgrade upon us (LOL - Yes we will notify you 24 hours in advance of us controlling the fate of your Hub and the potential security of your home), suppose someone goes on vacation (destination up to you - I will use Jamaica) for two weeks and they are relying on SmartThings as their way of monitoring their home and being able to enjoy their vacation knowing that everything on the home front is buttoned up, safe and secure (This customer doesn’t have 15 other applications in the event of failure to start opening up as a backdoor check - IE Nest App to look at cameras). So while in Jamaica, SmartThings and the wisdom that they possess, send an email to the customer on Tuesday (Firmware upgrade coming) with no option of Opting Out or Deferring, here comes Wednesday and vacation is outstanding so far, Firmware upgrade performed, and Red Light / Amber Light, anything but the green light and nobody home to power off or reboot (Yes you can do this from IDE - Basic customer remember) and this customer after a night of dinner and drinks prior to lights out, decides to check on their home, but the Hub is offline and I can’t see crap. So now what - Did someone cut the power, break in and steal all my stuff. Well, there goes vacation because now the customer is worried sick that something is wrong. A Retail product on the store shelves is treated differently than some Development Environment that SmartThings believes is ok to deliver to the FLEET OF PRODUCTION hubs? No, sorry guys that isn’t the right approach or correct one. That’s what the Beta Testing program is for and the folks in this community. So with all these issues, you continue to beta test until you have all these kinks and issues worked out. Yes I understand there is a combination of things at work here and it is impossible to test for every scenario (Cosmic dust bunnies? - OK), but to force this on the MASSES as a Trial and Error function, WITHOUT the ability for someone to back up their hub prior to installing the upgrade, a back out process, the ability to defer the upgrade, this is not acceptable to the public retail product that the customer would expect. If they understood or knew all of this that was going on, I guarantee you that a very large consumer base would skip this product altogether, because it’s all about convenience of what the customer expects. Whether this is being done for the greater good of the customer base, Samsung and SmartThings is way off base its thinking or fundamental thought process on how and who this truly impacts!
For me personally, I believe SmartThings has a lot going for it, and overall I am very pleased with the functionality, compatibility and integratability (my word) that can be performed within this platform. I have had some of my own struggles and challenges within ST, but I’m a Software Developer (ITSM Industry) willing to deal with the pains, trials and tribulations associated with adding something customized that someone has spent their own time working tirelessly on to deliver to us for free. As the Smart Home market continues to grow and emerge, the expectation of plug and play will be more the norm as companies come together and continue to collaborate and integrate more friendly customer integrations. For what is available on the market right now, SmartThings is definitely ahead of the game, but if they continue to treat this platform the way they are in the future, they will in the end LOSE. Other companies who will have learned from SmartThings “Lessons Learned” will emerge and begin to pass you up, leaving ST as the “Original”, the “Innovators”, the “Once Were” and it will be a product known as “A Thing of the Past”. Short of the product catching fire ‘cough cough’, this is a spark and kindling just waiting to erupt.
AS RBoy stated in his post, “do what you will with it”, but I’m hoping someone within SmartThings that cares enough, sends all of this up line so that those who have the power to make these decisions, really take all of this stuff seriously into consideration before doing “what they think is the correct move”, and actually weighing everything out and listening to the community and take their insight not at face value. My opinion “the writing is on the wall” if you continue to believe that for a Product of this magnitude and what it means to the consumer can be handled in the way that you are going about it. Another direction needs to be sought prior to force delivering to the FLEET OF PRODUCTION HUBS! Is this a game of Battleship? Firmware Upgrade, oops RED LIGHT. You sank my Destroyer, Game Over, You Win. Come on!
Sorry for taking so much space on this thread, but I wanted to throw out my thoughts for “the greater good of the product” in hoping that it does have a long future.
Take it for what it is. Nick - Hoping that you convey my message and ALL those who have posted above before this continued forced upgrade takes place and someone else throws a “BRICK” (Hub) through the Samsung Window, and send all this information up to someone higher in the food chain that might be able to make a better well informed decision.
Just my .02 all.
Thanks,
WB
