Hello everyone,
I am generally knowledgeable and open-minded when it comes to IT, but I’m not really comfortable with "Smart Home" technology. That’s why I’m asking the community why you decided to go for it, especially in light of my concerns.
Overall, I don’t see much value in the typical smart home features. This is partly due to my way of living, but also largely because of the functions offered. For example, I don’t feel the need to control lighting via smartphone. Each room has appropriate light switches or motion sensors. Controlling blinds/shutters is unnecessary for me since I deliberately opted not to install shutters, except for two large south-facing windows. The same applies to a ventilation system, which I don’t have nor need. Turning devices on and off via an app strikes me as unnecessary.
What bothers me in particular is the multitude of protocols, the proprietary technology, and manufacturer-dependent software. I simply do not want to buy and install an expensive system from a manufacturer when I don’t know if they will still exist in five years or whether and how the software will be further developed.
Devices that can actually be usefully controlled via app now come with Wi-Fi capability and a matching app, so I don’t need a complex smart home system for that. For example, heating systems/heat pumps, photovoltaic systems, charging stations, video intercoms, robot vacuum cleaners, etc. Whether you really need an app for a washing machine, refrigerator, or dishwasher is debatable, but even these appliances have become "smart" nowadays.
Maybe I’m missing a significant advantage of smart home technology—if so, please feel free to fill in my knowledge gap!
I am generally knowledgeable and open-minded when it comes to IT, but I’m not really comfortable with "Smart Home" technology. That’s why I’m asking the community why you decided to go for it, especially in light of my concerns.
Overall, I don’t see much value in the typical smart home features. This is partly due to my way of living, but also largely because of the functions offered. For example, I don’t feel the need to control lighting via smartphone. Each room has appropriate light switches or motion sensors. Controlling blinds/shutters is unnecessary for me since I deliberately opted not to install shutters, except for two large south-facing windows. The same applies to a ventilation system, which I don’t have nor need. Turning devices on and off via an app strikes me as unnecessary.
What bothers me in particular is the multitude of protocols, the proprietary technology, and manufacturer-dependent software. I simply do not want to buy and install an expensive system from a manufacturer when I don’t know if they will still exist in five years or whether and how the software will be further developed.
Devices that can actually be usefully controlled via app now come with Wi-Fi capability and a matching app, so I don’t need a complex smart home system for that. For example, heating systems/heat pumps, photovoltaic systems, charging stations, video intercoms, robot vacuum cleaners, etc. Whether you really need an app for a washing machine, refrigerator, or dishwasher is debatable, but even these appliances have become "smart" nowadays.
Maybe I’m missing a significant advantage of smart home technology—if so, please feel free to fill in my knowledge gap!
For office buildings, no one here has doubted the usefulness. Otherwise, I also agree with Hampshire:
hampshire schrieb:
... of course, there are people responsible for running it – that's exactly the kind of person I don’t want to be at home.
untergasse43 schrieb:
I hardly know any reasonably modern office (including smaller ones!) that does without automated lighting and shading.I need to mention that to my managers. However, the aerospace industry tends to be very cautious with innovations. Due to the emerging trend of working from home, we will probably skip this entire development cycle altogether.
Twenty years ago, our office building wasn’t advanced enough for full automation, but a bus system was installed nonetheless. This is very helpful during renovations since different office layouts can be easily reprogrammed. Automatic dimming of lights is now quite common. Features like tunable white lighting, however, are not yet widespread. The valves of the chilled ceiling, for example, are also controlled via the bus system.