News - Microsoft introduces HomeOS

[HEXUS]

Home automation for the nation.

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[Biscuit]

i would love to do it, and i think if it was my own home then i probably would however im in rented accomodation so im fairly limited with what i can actually do.

[Andi-C]

Depends on what I can control & how much it would cost to change. You'd have to change all the electical switches both socket & light & most of your appliances. This will be the future as cost will be high for this tech.
The thing I would pay money for now is a mute switch or a standby on the Wife & Kids !!!

[wesleyaldred]

The thing I would pay money for now is a mute switch or a standby on the Wife & Kids !!!

+1 !!!

[Saracen]

I struggle to see the point of most of it, personally.

It's already perfectly possible, and pretty cheap, to replace power points and light switches with remote control versions, for those few instances where, personally, I might like to do it. It just needs a little remote, rather than a smartphone and an app. And that's been the case for 20 years or more.

I regard myself as a pretty lazy individual, given half a chance, and even I haven't quite got to the point of being quite lazy enough to want to turn lights up and down by smartphone. I can still (just about) haul my butt out of the chair, once or twice a night, and use a conventional dimmer switch.

Each to his own, I guess, and no doubt, a lot of people will leap at the chance. Personally, it just strikes me as a whole load of extra things to go wrong, and currently, I don't very often find the need to reboot, let alone de-virus, my light switches. This strikes me, really, as yet another opportunity for big business to sell us a load of cobblers they manage to convince us we need when we really don't. Just my 2p.

[Nelviticus]

Yeah, what this world really needs is MORE devices that use electricity.

[Zeven]

This might be a good idea for when my parents get older but then again, perhaps they should keep moving no matter the age they're at for the sake of exercise.

[Lord Midas]

Lol, and what happens when you blow a fuse? You wouldn't even be able to open a door to find your way to the fuse box.

[kingpotnoodle]

I like a few things, motion sensors for lights, one switch that will kill all sockets in a room when you go to bed etc, perhaps scheduled curtain closes or remote control of my boiler (or one that actually monitors the water to keep a supply ready would be terrific) but I can't see the appeal of fridges that do my shopping or ovens that come on at a preset time, I'm sure it would produce too many undesirable results - i.e. oven comes on, but I'm late and unable to login with my super-phone to tell it not to in time, my food is ruined. This would happen to me multiple times a week...

[Nzyme32]

I'd love it IF I lived in accommodation that could benefit from it. So not my crap ass flat :/

[Biscuit]

I struggle to see the point of most of it, personally.

It's already perfectly possible, and pretty cheap, to replace power points and light switches with remote control versions, for those few instances where, personally, I might like to do it. It just needs a little remote, rather than a smartphone and an app. And that's been the case for 20 years or more.

I regard myself as a pretty lazy individual, given half a chance, and even I haven't quite got to the point of being quite lazy enough to want to turn lights up and down by smartphone. I can still (just about) haul my butt out of the chair, once or twice a night, and use a conventional dimmer switch.

Each to his own, I guess, and no doubt, a lot of people will leap and the chance. Personally, it just strikes me as a whole load of extra things to go wrong, and currently, I don't very often find the need to reboot, let alone de-virus, my light switches. This strikes me, really, as yet another opportunity for big business to sell us a load of cobblers they manage to convince us we need when we really don't. Just my 2p.

I think it would be more actually automating procedures using motion sensors and the like. Its not just about being lazy but also saving power as if you have things turning on and off without human intervention then you could technically have them on less.

[Boris]

I'd be interested in the security side of it.

I'm a little paranoid when I go away on holiday and an app telling me if my burglar alarm goes off or remote access to security cameras would make me feel a whole lot better.

Something that barks like a Rottweiler when someone looks in the window would be nice too! And no, I don't want to buy a dog. ;-p

[abaxas]

More useless tech to fill a need we dont have.

[Saracen]

I think it would be more actually automating procedures using motion sensors and the like. Its not just about being lazy but also saving power as if you have things turning on and off without human intervention then you could technically have them on less.

Or you might end up with them on more.

Suppose I want to pop into the lounge to pick up a magazine. If motion detectors start powering things on, when I'm only going to be in the room for 5 seconds, they'll turn on when I don't need them .... especially as I can do that with just light from the hall outside the lounge door.

I honestly can't think of many situations where I want motion sensors turning things on and off. Exceptions to that would be outside lights (and I did that 25 years ago) or burglars alarm sensors (again, done that, albeit rather more recently).

[Saracen]

I like a few things, motion sensors for lights, one switch that will kill all sockets in a room when you go to bed etc, ...

Personally, I'm not convinced about the lights on motion sensors, but as for killing all the sockets in the room, well .... two things :-

1) Sometimes, you want some sockets left on. For instance, I kill the power to TV and AV gear, but leave satellite & freeview recorder boxes on, because they record overnight. So I don't want all sockets killed.

2) You don't need home automation to have an override on sockets.

Re: 2), when I laid out my home office, I put in a consumer unit specifically for circuits in that room. Each workstation in that room has it's own dedicated circuit, and I can kill that ALL power to that workstation by flipping a breaker in the unit. In fact, because of the equipment in use, it's a requirement to have that type of capability to kill power to some workstations. But I can do it for each one.

Or, flip the master in the consumer unit and I kill power to ALL workstations.

Anything in that room that is not workstation specific comes off of the conventional ring-main. When I leave the office for the day, I can easily kill all workstation power by flipping the master, or leave one or more on by flipping the other breakers. None of it requires home automation, or a smart-phone.

And I could have done a similar job by having a mains switch at each workstation, and all workstation sockets controlled by that switch. I just couldn't have isolated all workstations in the room with a single switch if I'd done it that way.

A simple example would be a home TV power socket. You can get extension bars with switched sockets and a single unswitched. So plug a four-way (or whatever) extension in for things like recorders, and put the TV, amplifier, etc, on the switched side. At night, flip the master switch and only the "permanent" power devices on the unswitched side are left powered up.

And, of course, in all things, understand and respect power loading restrictions, and don't overload anything.

[Saracen]

I'd be interested in the security side of it.

I'm a little paranoid when I go away on holiday and an app telling me if my burglar alarm goes off or remote access to security cameras would make me feel a whole lot better.
....

Agreed, but there have long been alarms with a dialout or SMS (or both) capability for that type of alert, and also CCTV systems with an ability to remote login and view cameras. Again, we don't need a new OS for that.