You indeed said shortly after Ezlo acquired Vera that you would start developing a new firmware. But… you also promised to improve the Vera firmware, solve bugs make it more stable.
A lot of quotes from yourself can be found in the https://community.getvera.com/t/mios-acquisition/199656/ thread @hienry_k9 already put quite some quotes in the thread on Ezlo controllers Beta enrollment.
Some other quotes from yourself in this same thread (aug and sept 2018:
The same counts for which zwave devices we want to get integrated in Vera.
In several threads promises were made by your employees AFTER aug 2018 to integrate new devices. “it is on our roadmap” "It will be integrated in the next firmware release.
And on the getvera website all 3 Vera controllers are still for sale. Stating that hundreds of zwave devices are supported. And also here is mentioned that users can ask for integration of new zwave devices, just fill in a form and it will be done. These are also promises !!!
And in fact you also introduced some firmware updates. 7.29 was a good one with clear improvements on stability and new devices integrated. 7.30 was a disaster (something with “christmas lights on” without using Alexa, I’m, sure you remember). 7.31 als brought good steps in improvement and stability. A next version 7.32 was also mentioned several times.
So the point I want to make: you did make promises to improve and support the Vera Firmware including adding new devices.
But… some devices that were promised are still not added. For example Aeotec Doorbell 6. As far as I know it is the only zwave doorbell.
There are more examples (e.g. Fibaro implant).
And now it seems like any development of Vera firmware is stopped and focus is 100% on Ezlo firmware.
Will “new” (some are already > 2 year on the market) zwave devices will be added in Vera firmware as promised
Do you still support users that have problems with their current Vera controllers running on Vera firmware (as there is not yet an officially introduced and well tested alternative) ?
You said you are happy to answer my questions, so please do.
Thanks in advance !
1-There could be some minor revisions
2-We don’t currently have any development tasks for that
3-For now we are still paying support people to support those users.
@melih
Good to give some clarity although answers 1 and 3 are still rather vague. So in theory it is possible that you stop support fully by tomorrow.
This is very dissapointing for me.
I can understand that most of the focus now is on developing the new Ezlo firmware. I’m happy with that and I will also start testing, I signed up and hope I willl receive the new controllers soon. My main interest is the Ezlo plus because of the specs. Although I would not call it a “beast”. Hardware is better than Vera Plus and Vera Secure but still less than the newest controllers of Fibaro (Homecenter 3) and Homey (Pro version).
Like many other users here I have quite a complex setup (in my case approx 40 zwave nodes, 200 devices in total and approx 10 plugins). And I want to expand it further in the near future. Further my domotcia system has to run local as much as possible and I don’t want to be dependent on Google and Amazon…
My production Vera is now running on firmware 7.31. I skipped some plugins and replaced it with the magnificent Reactor plugin of @rigpapa. I also have hardly any scenes anymore. Also I implemented some of the great tips of @rafale77.
It runs now stable, but I keep my fingers crossed.
But it will be a long road before the new Ezlo firmware has the same capabilities.
So my biggest worry is that you stop supporting the current setup.
If that happens it will be the end of my (7 year) Vera/Ezlo story and I will switch to another platform. This is my personal situation but I’m sure many other Vera users are in the same boat.
And what about the installers that sold Vera controllers to several of their customers and still maintain those systems. How will they feel ?
And what about users that have bought new Vera’s recently or will buy it soon (because it still for sale). It is not very “business ethical” to stop supporting these controllers while you not have a comparable alternative to offer. To put it mildly…
I think it is even against laws in some countries where manufacturers of (electronical) devices are obliged to support it even several years after the sales of these devices are stopped.
So I would strongly advice:
Keep current firmware alive and if necessary do some minor upgrades;
Keep on supporting users that encounter problems
Integrate some popular zwave devices that were promised
Ensure a migration path (good to see that a seperate thread is opened for this one). This should be ready before you stop support of the Vera firmware.
For me a gradual migration from the old to the new is acceptable if the communicate with each other (so I can send commands from one to the other).
In Holland where I live we have a saying: “Gooi je oude schoenen niet weg voordat je nieuwe hebt” Translation: Don’t throw away your old shoes before you have new ones.
for that you don’t even need Ezlo plus, Ezlo Atom v2 can handle that! When you look at a system you can’t just look at the CPU power while ignoring the OS and FW … Ezlo atom v2 runs local…
How can you come to this conclusion without using the products? Wait until you get your hardware, test it…then lets talk again how we can make it all work for you.
Sorry but I just don’t believe that… the 40 zwave devices might not be the problem (although I just first want to see it before I believe it) but running plugins that integrate products like Philips Hue, Sonos, Harmony, RFXcom plugin, Weather Station, Smartmeter, Honeywell Evohome with complex automations and all locally you need decent hardware. I see this not only at Vera but also at competitors like Fibaro and Homey.
I come to this conclusion by just reading the experiences of some experienced and respected users like @reneboer and @librasun. They started testing the new Ezlo firmware and encounter a lot of bugs and report very very limited functionalities at this moment.
I like your enthusiasm and you promise a lot, but what counts is the reality and the user reviews.
This brings up a point of curiosity for me: what about the other upcoming Ezlo devices? Do they run local as well? Personally, I feel much more comfortable with a device that can operate completely offline/only on my local network, over one that has to “phone home”. Of course, I use Alexa too, which is almost completely not local, so obviously it’s not a hard requirement for me, but I would prefer it
sure. The list now shows the devices in the order being implemented (new added devices at the bottom). However we can change the list in alphabetical order next time we update it for sure if that would be more useful.
Hello @Pitt13 , @Sorin checked for a plugin for filters but we couldn’t find any. We are either going to change the order in alphabetical as @Mai_Pensato proposed here or have some other solution to make the list more user friendly to search in it.
Hi Sorin and Melih.
At the end of the discussion. Is it going to be possible to translate in a Vera Edge gateway the vera firmware to Ezlo firmware.
I say because we have sold a lot of Vera Edge devices in the last months. How to explain to our customers the firmware is old and we must reset the zwave network to be able to upgrde it?
I think the most important think is the zwave network could be translated from one controller to another running Ezlo, without exclude/include hard work. The scenes, programs, … are less important, it´s more easy work to do new programs the “exclude/include”.
The new Ezlo FW will be supported on the Vera edge/secure/plus. It is already in beta testing with the edge. It will require re-pairing of your Z wave devices, and you will have to set everything up all over again including scenes plugins etc.
Wait until you get your hardware, test it…then lets talk again how we can make it all work for you.
I am wearing them!