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The Homey Community has been moved to https://community.athom.com.
This forum is now read-only for archive purposes.
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New shipment date for Homey?
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Development roadmap is indeed needed. It gives both parties clarity on what needs to be done when. Of course im interested in all new feature sets. Depending on how many features you put on this roadmap gives you more or less pressure. At least yiu create control over what you want to launch at a given time.
I agree with Robin. Issues come up and priorities can change all the time, and it's a pain in the ass if you have a roadmap that you either are forced to stick to so you can't address those issues/priorities, or that you have to update all the time, so that you have different versions of the roadmap circulating after a while. imho either approach would only lead to more complaints.
What may be a lot more useful to the devs at this stage, is if they know where we, the users, would like their priorities to be. If we could set up a list where people can vote on what kind of software support is most desired ("what devices do you have at home right now, that you most want Homey support for?"), then the devs can adapt their priorities to what's at the top of that list. Then, if you want to consider that list a "development roadmap", that's fine too.
Keep in mind that future retail buyers aren't exactly the same as the kickstarter community.
So when it comes to features, homey needsbto focus on their future mass market, not the 'techies' visiting this forum. I would turn it around and let Homey come up with their shortlist of (additional) feature sets to be included at launchdate. With this list we can set the priorities...
Just my 2 cents..
As I mentioned that issues/bugs can pushes the timeline. Why you need to change the priorities in the device support during the development? They don`t need to update the roadmap all the time. They have never updated this:
However it was still necessary to make this. I think priorities are relatively clear. First the ones they have originally committed to support. Than most popular devices with open API, than the smaller or fun things.
Because I think we are now talking about smaller things which can be shifted more easely
@Bumblez, I think you need both.
We want to see a roadmap - it doesn't have to be very specific (first few months: hunt bugs, after that: add this and that feature, ...) There don't even have to be dates on it, just an order they see themselves working in. In case a bug has to be resolved, the whole line just moves along a bit (hopefully :-) ).
Athom should post a questionnaire to see what functions we'd like them to add, and what hardware we are using at the moment. That way they get some statistics and they can decide what hardware is used the most and should first be supported.
One is linked to the other. Do the questionnaire, create a roadmap with a general timeline....
@Fire69 seems fair enough.
As Emile stated before, ther is no launch date... Homey is available when hardware is ready. And to emphasize what I initially wrote, it is not a good idea to ship Homey at the speed it can be produced. Backers, yes, pre-orders, shops no. Unless the OOBE is so good it is possible, what we hope for of course....
OOBE = Out Of The Box Experience ;-)
Out Of The Box Experience. That is why Homey is in a beautiful box. It is influencing your mind even before you buy/open, but then when opening a box of a product, the yser should become even more happy.
Not only the outside will count for OOBE :-)
First Homeys will be shipped next week.
They have ordered more than the Kickstarter and Pre-order. The rest will go to retailer if I remember well. (Have been mentioned couple of times that the preorder price is below or equals the retail price. So it will go to retail.)
I agree about mass market sale in shops, but I don't see the difference between backers and pre-orders here. As the hardware has been submitted for mass production, I don't think "ready" is too far off (unless we want to hold off the shipment of the mass produced Homey until the first batchers have been able to test it extensively, but then that applies to all other backers too). The software is far from ready, but part of the task there is up to the user community itself... and I'm sure that there are people with and without programming skills in both the backers and pre-orders group. The more of those get their Homey and can start developing for it, the better.
@Fire69
Okay, that would make sense.
I don't think "ready" is too far off
Indeed, all signals indicate so.
(unless we want to hold off the shipment of the mass produced Homey until the first batchers have been able to test it extensively, but then that applies to all other backers too).
It is a matter of numbers. 40 next week or so is managable. Even if mass production is ready/on stock, hold them based on feedback, ship next 100-500 or so, at leest the geeks and a couple of 'standard' backers, if that is sound enough to ship the rest of the backers. Having Homey in the shop before christmass sounds a step too far, while the finance department might have a different opinion. I am glad I am not in the posistion to take that decission. But as I mentioned before, maybe all is so well prepared that it is smoother than expected.
Quoting is not easy.... There is no way to edit a post?
Up to one hour after posting on the cog wheel (tandwiel) right of the quote button on your post
I'll believe it when I see it
Back on topic, there is a lot of "advice" here for Athom and I am quite sure they already have an internal roadmap now for the distribution of Homey. On the software level there is still quite some work left for Athom ánd the geeks/tweakers/developers who make apps to really complete the Homey but I would hope that Athom focuses now on assembly and shipping it out to backers and pre-orders.
Homey in the shops is a completely other discussion and honestly not really relevant here as we are all in line now waiting for a product that is not finished yet. (And if you are not in line and waiting for Homey hits the store, good luck waiting..)
They may have a roadmap, but providing some advice and sharing from vast experience in rolling out products that some people can provide, is very valuable for an inexperienced startup. Managing distribution calmly, waiting for response after at least WEEKS before shipping the next batch each time is crucial I think. However rock solid something appears, you'll always see that client 101 and 123 and 500 until 560 will experience big, unforseen, maybe unrecoverable problems. The question is not if this happens, just when this happens, cause it will happen.
You know what I meant. Officially should be shipped by next week.
Athom is not dealing with the assembly it is done by Global electronics.
Irrelevant for us not irrelevant for Athom. And the software development not irrelevant to any of us, without comprehensive device support you are not going far with the hardware.
I would think that it's either hold everything and wait for feedback from the first batch (40), or have enough confidence in the product to ship everything and call the product 'ready'. I believe that shipping 100-500 and then waiting for feedback, isn't really an option. It would quickly get very expensive if they have to fix/replace that whole batch. That's why they did such extensive internal testing. And given that the signal to start mass production has already been given, I don't even think it would make much sense to wait for feedback from the first 40. So if there are any minor problems/inconveniences left in the hardware, we will probably just have to learn to live with them.
As far as hardware, yes. But also software and perception/ux is a relatively big risk. Software not working properly is manageable for 50 clients. Not for 500. Especially if the waiting for a solution takes weeks, or months.
+1 for Dieter. I presume Athom won't roll out Homey to the stores until all start-up problems will be known / solved...
I agree - it is not for hardware issues, that would mean a dramatic drawback. But setup and important software issues, for which you can develop and test solutions before you have 500 people screeming and you write a horrible manual because of presure. I also agree that even after the 40, nr 101, 133 etc can also find a big issue. But the 1st 40 can give some confidence. (And don't forget that even big companies can fail, like the recent apple that does not want to start after a full charge.) I fully trust that Athom has done all the possible testing, but still from their perspective as the designers. Brand new customers are a different thing...
As I said before, most of us know what we're getting ourselves into... we know the software is not finished. But that's the thing, there are probably a lot of people among those backers and pre-orders who can (and will) do some programming once they receive the Homey... and that's an absolute requirement to make the Homey a success, as Athom can't (and won't) make all the apps themselves. So the more people get their hardware and can start programming for it, the better.
Sure, they could ask each and every backer/pre-order "Do you plan to develop your own apps for the Homey? Yes, okay, then we'll send you one. No? Then you have to wait a few more months." but I don't think that would work.
And yes, waiting for a solution to a problem in such an app (especially if it's designed by a user) may indeed take weeks or months. But I don't see that as a valid reason to hold off distributing the hardware to those people who already paid for it.
Besides, updating firmware and apps shouldn't be too difficult. Homey is connected to the web and can download them whenever available.
How many? 2 months or 22 months? You dont know without a development roadmap.
Also how do you know what apps Athom is going to release in the next few months? Without that knowledge you dont know if it make sense to develop an app or you would just waste your time and work in parallel with athom to support the same product. Does it make sense?
The real first batch is only 10+1pcs. (I guess, the rest goes to employees and partner companies to develop apps)
As I said, I don't think that option would work, and at the stage we are at now, I don't think people SHOULD wait any longer than the time needed to produce the hardware, for the hardware they paid for.
Yes, I agree, it does make sense for Athom to make it clear which apps they are currently developing (or are going to develop) themselves, to avoid the creation of 2 nearly identical apps.
Okay, I must have missed that info. I thought the entire batch of 40 was going to the first batchers. Thanks for the update.
Apology for the misunderstanding. Nothing personal
My bad, actually the first batch is around 20 pieces as some guy have upgraded since the Kikstarter campaign. From the kickstarter update:"about 20 will be sent to the Super backers and Early Batch backers"
So far, I am impressed with the stuff Athom is showing, software-wise. I think they had really clear ideas on how to make it all work, I am not worried at all about the state of the device and software once it arrives. It will be a challenge to fill the app store, I hope to be able to understand the docs and work out how to make an app. Only thing I am afraid of is that I will put too much of my free time in hobbying around with Homey.