ghostt
Sep 29, 2009, 08:53 PM
Huzzah! Forums are back and better than ever! Thanks to Kimberly and the HCA folks for the hard work on all the recent updates to the website and HCA itself. I figured I'd introduce myself and say hello!
I've been an HCA user for about 6 years now. What was said in a recent customer mailing is something that's boggled my mind for years, that HCA is a 'quiet product', both in its operation (not so surprising), and in its market visibility. Any time I talk to people about automation, the first thing I talk about is HCA, and how powerful it is, yet easy to use. I started my HCA adventure with simple X-10 cheap-o modules, an old Pentium 90 computer running Linux, and the 'heyu' program. As my automation habits evolved, I began to work with more advanced hardware (W8000RF32, CM15A, etc), and found that heyu (at the time) did not support those pieces of hardware.
After tinkering with just about every software package out there that gets noticed and being sorely disappointed, I finally found HCA. I haven't looked back since (though every now and then I tinker with the latest offerings from the usual suspects, and they still are as disappointing as they were 6 years ago). It amazes me that more people don't know about HCA, especially the folks who are shelling out two or three times as much money for clearly inferior products (I won't name names, but pretty much any other automation software fits that description ;)).
I'm really glad to see the focus on generating a community around HCA, it is a product that deserves much more attention than it gets. In my opinion, HCA is by far the most bang-for-your-buck piece of software I use, hands down. I only hope that as time goes on more automation fans can be exposed to what they've been missing!
Sorry to gush, but I really am a huge fan of HCA, and have been for many years. The software aside, who can say anything bad about the HCA support? I've never been disappointed with the response time or results of the rare occasions I have to contact HCATech for support. Absolutely amazing people! (Kimberly you rock!)
Again, sorry for the length and the gushing, but I'm just a very, very happy HCA user (fanatic even), and am thrilled to see the building of a community around this fantastic product.
Cheers!
-Chris
I've been an HCA user for about 6 years now. What was said in a recent customer mailing is something that's boggled my mind for years, that HCA is a 'quiet product', both in its operation (not so surprising), and in its market visibility. Any time I talk to people about automation, the first thing I talk about is HCA, and how powerful it is, yet easy to use. I started my HCA adventure with simple X-10 cheap-o modules, an old Pentium 90 computer running Linux, and the 'heyu' program. As my automation habits evolved, I began to work with more advanced hardware (W8000RF32, CM15A, etc), and found that heyu (at the time) did not support those pieces of hardware.
After tinkering with just about every software package out there that gets noticed and being sorely disappointed, I finally found HCA. I haven't looked back since (though every now and then I tinker with the latest offerings from the usual suspects, and they still are as disappointing as they were 6 years ago). It amazes me that more people don't know about HCA, especially the folks who are shelling out two or three times as much money for clearly inferior products (I won't name names, but pretty much any other automation software fits that description ;)).
I'm really glad to see the focus on generating a community around HCA, it is a product that deserves much more attention than it gets. In my opinion, HCA is by far the most bang-for-your-buck piece of software I use, hands down. I only hope that as time goes on more automation fans can be exposed to what they've been missing!
Sorry to gush, but I really am a huge fan of HCA, and have been for many years. The software aside, who can say anything bad about the HCA support? I've never been disappointed with the response time or results of the rare occasions I have to contact HCATech for support. Absolutely amazing people! (Kimberly you rock!)
Again, sorry for the length and the gushing, but I'm just a very, very happy HCA user (fanatic even), and am thrilled to see the building of a community around this fantastic product.
Cheers!
-Chris