Grievance!

[Eman]

Rupp or HST,

We know that dev Ultrajones clearly labelled his plug-ins ending in HS3 (Which by law he has the upper hand), can you please ask him if he so wishes to ask for a fee to upgrade his plug-ins...? Am sure I and others across the board are willing to pay for his continued support for his plug-ins because most of them have had complaints/issues going on for long

The least he could do is in big letters to put up a warning sign "PLEASE DON'T ASK FOR SUPPORT FOR HS4" on all his forums.

We never said that we hated the guy but...


Eman.

[jon00]

I don't think it is fair to single out one developer here. There have been a number of PI Authors going MIA lately. They have no legal responsibility to support their plugins. All that HST state is:

3rd party plugin authors are solely responsible for all end-user support of their plugins. Plugins that are not adequately supported will be subject to removal from distribution at the discretion of HST.

One suggestion of placing software in escrow is expensive and if enforced would put dev's off altogether. No real answer but most developers have day jobs and do have changes in their careers/lifestyles....

[Eman]

I don't think it is fair to single out one developer here. There have been a number of PI Authors going MIA lately. They have no legal responsibility to support their plugins. All that HST state is:

3rd party plugin authors are solely responsible for all end-user support of their plugins. Plugins that are not adequately supported will be subject to removal from distribution at the discretion of HST.

One suggestion of placing software in escrow is expensive and if enforced would put dev's off altogether. No real answer but most developers have day jobs and do have changes in their careers/lifestyles....

I posted posted similar remarks at his forum and instead of addressing the concerns he took down my posts down... It makes it all but confusing!

Yes the best devs stefxx ...for one, create plug-ins for the device they have and although monetised they get continued support because there is breaking changes (HS4) that affect their systems.

But because the devs never embraced HS4, they decided to undermine it and take down everyone with it along the way just like in today's "Politics"...


Eman.

[jon00]

But because the devs never embraced HS4, they decided to undermine it and take down everyone with it along the way just like in today's "Politics"...

Eman.

Again, that is pure subjecture. The HS4 API is completely different to HS3. In most cases a total rewrite of the front end/interface is required. The lack of HS4 PI documentation (especially in the beginning), lack of equivalent coding functions used in HS3 etc left many devs scraping around for code snippets, submitting bug reports etc and spent months getting to know how to structure the new PI format. No easy task. No wonder many are now charging for their hard work!

Due to this extensive programming workload requirement, many devs have decided not to upgrade their PI's.

I believe UltraJones posted that he would not update any of this HS3 plugins to HS4 versions until there was a document to assist with migration. I have seen nothing from HST on that.

I understand the frustration but there is no easy answer to this one.

[Eman]

Again, that is pure subjecture. The HS4 API is completely different to HS3. In most cases a total rewrite of the front end/interface is required. The lack of HS4 PI documentation (especially in the beginning), lack of equivalent coding functions used in HS3 etc left many devs scraping around for code snippets, submitting bug reports etc and spent months getting to know how to structure the new PI format. No easy task. No wonder many are now charging for their hard work!

Due to this extensive programming workload requirement, many devs have decided not to upgrade their PI's.

I believe UltraJones posted that he would not update any of this HS3 plugins to HS4 versions until there was a document to assist with migration. I have seen nothing from HST on that.

I understand the frustration but there is no easy answer to this one.

True to all the above and no one denies that but responding/getting back to people goes an extra mile. You will find me on many forums and not only Ultrajones redirecting users to alternatives...

And sure others looking from sidelines may see me as intrusive but... I only care not about the money I long spent on an outdated plug-in but I hate the red text in my log which I can't get rid of because am not a programmer... Am up for it, should there be a fee for upgrades... "Time Is Money" and there should be a need to pay for one's Time

The thread was to spark a conversation especially with the ever missing HST but I may have done more harm than good...
Indeed some users have gone as far as appeasing the dev... like a situation I mentioned that the dev would jump out to help him... But before he did, he deleted my posts because they were not as "Unapproved" as they put it but in my view, "Not Favourable" to them...
Credit is due where it's earned...


Eman.

[jon00]

I'm going to bow out of this conversation, however if the plugin works correctly in HS3 but not HS4 then that is one for HST to manage. Rich stated at the beginning of HS4 that all HS3 plugins should work in HS4 and he would rectify any issues to do so. If they now don't work in HS3 correctly then that is a matter for the PI author to address.

[Eman]

I'm going to bow out of this conversation, however if the plugin works correctly in HS3 but not HS4 then that is one for HST to manage. Rich stated at the beginning of HS4 that all HS3 plugins should work in HS4 and he would rectify any issues to do so. If they now don't work in HS3 correctly then that is a matter for the PI author to address.

There you go!, the missing no changed the whole context of that post # 5... And sorry, with me (multi tasking ), you would probably give it a day or two before you respond but I had the hot air out! and take no prisoners

Was only trying to help. So you guys enjoy your day!


Eman.

[ewkearns]

I don't know which PIs are the subject of this latest angst, but this was posted a couple of years ago: https://forums.homeseer.com/forum/3r...plug-in-status

I might note that post #1 is the meat of the thread, but post #9 confirms what jon00 said and I doubt that any documentation of the type will be forthcoming and was unlikely when this thread hit the forum. My personal conclusion is that Ultrajones is probably "done" and, personally, have acted accordingly. His last visit to the forum was a month ago. I called BS on this ultimatum over 2 years ago.

I'm not a fan of calling out any one developer, either. I would suggest contacting HST in an attempt to find out the PI developer's intentions or just move on to other PI developers. I have seen these public announcements posted as heads-ups, lately. I put the onus on HST to clean the stable of inactive and uncommunicative PI developers.

On a positive note, I would pay (and I suspect others would as well, see unanswered questions in the above link) to have someone continue a CID reject plugin for my landline and a PI that would interface with SightHound. Should any reader(s) have a workaround for the loss of these, I'm all ears...

[Eman]

ewkearns,
Nice post! And credit is due where it's earned!..

I would also hereby would like to notify you that the nature of the HomeSeer Foums setup is all but a mishmash and would also say that the forum in linked your link above is listed as Plug-in Developers (guess am not alone ) and the last time I checked am not one of them so I missed it all these years but thanks for pointing that out...


Eman.

[TeleFragger]

My personal conclusion is that Ultrajones is probably "done" and, personally, have acted accordingly. His last visit to the forum was a month ago. I called BS on this ultimatum over 2 years ago.

Well I have been gone all of covid - mostly...
and UHMM WOW!!!!!!
Totally missed that

On a positive note, I would pay (and I suspect others would as well, see unanswered questions in the above link) to have someone continue a CID reject plugin for my landline and a PI that would interface with SightHound. Should any reader(s) have a workaround for the loss of these, I'm all ears...

Well I threw out questions on UltraECM3 plugin forum asking questions and never heard from Ultra... and as you - I do not point fingers cuz it gets us nowhere... and now I know why I have not heard back...
after getting my GEM setup and going and plugin running in trial mode (Trial 12 days left) and I have to weigh in if I want to purchase the $40 plugin.
While I agree, I do not mind paying if support is going on or if the product is functioning; however, there are things I would like to see possibly and a minor issue (rates tab is blank and rate is set on options tab so what is rate tab for)

I do agree that there are developers that step up, whether free or paid, to keep their plugins up to date or functioning when issues are found. No matter how minor!

but inevitably HST needs to weigh in if a developer is no longer going to support a plugin to either support it or not. Cannot say.. well it is working, so lets keep charging for it and hope no one has an issue... cuz someone (mostly me) will find that little bug cuz i have bad luck!!!!

[Ultrajones]

Yes, I am pretty much done. I contacted HomeSeer and they told me they are not interested in acquiring my plug-ins. I am now looking to be bought out either by a single developer or the HomeSeer community. Please contact me interested. All source code exists in GitHub. I'll also provide the packages as well that includes support files for each plug-in.

If there is no interest, I'll provide support as time permits.

Regards,
Ultrajones

[TeleFragger]

Yes, I am pretty much done. I contacted HomeSeer and they told me they are not interested in acquiring my plug-ins. I am now looking to be bought out either by a single developer or the HomeSeer community. Please contact me interested. All source code exists in GitHub. I'll also provide the packages as well that includes support files for each plug-in.

If there is no interest, I'll provide support as time permits.

Regards,
Ultrajones

I am glad you are ok. With Covid, we cannot take anything for granted. Thank you for replying here so everyone does know where this stands...

Totally support your 'done' and do not want to know the why and I am glad you do have the 'interest in acquire' as well.
I do not know how some of you have time for this. I wish I knew how to code as I would love to do these things myself...

[Pete]

Here relating to Landline CID I am still using HS2 full functionality HSPhone / Way2Call boxes on two VOIP lines. Works great in a Windows VB on the Ubuntu HS3 Pro computer.

IE: it is the same VB that is running 5 instances of HS Speaker with different voice fonts.

[Uncle Michael]

Software has a life cycle - as do software developers. It should not come as a surprise that software written by an individual is not supported in perpetuity. That said, given the role that HS plug-ins play, there is clearly an opportunity for HST to develop a policy to deal with plug-in end-of-life issues and to, at the least, recommend a process for terminating or transferring support gracefully. (It should be noted, however, that even plug-ins owned by HST have been essentially abandoned.)

[kesterf]

Ultrajones ,

I am very sad to see you leaving. I love your plugins! They are useful, well written, and rock solid! They are the foundation of my entire system. Without them or a good replacement, Homeseer is useless to me. In particular, I rely on UltraM1G3 & Ultra1Wire3. I also use UltraTivo3, UltraFlowMeter3 and purchased UltraECM3 for use in the future. I guess I'll stick with HS3 for much, much longer.

I've struggled with some of the changes between HS2 and HS3 that makes setting up devices and events take much longer than needed. From what I've seen in the forum and my attempt to upgrade yesterday, HS4 is continuing that trend. I purchased HS4 in early Oct, 2019 and finally attempted to upgrade yesterday. Ran into a few issues, most noticeably the link with Alexa

I've scratched out a handful of scripts I use with my system, but my programming skills are very limited. The basis of my limited programming skills is a Fortran class I took in the Late 80's, a bunch of VB books I've read, and Google. I've been contemplating retirement, since I've hit the combo of time/age that allow full retirement this year. A Plugin business could be great retirement gig, but 1) I don't think I'm a good enough programmer and 2) devices and programming languages seem to be evolving quicker than I'm able to stay current with.

I wish you the best in the future!

Thanks,

Forrest