“works with openHAB” initiative

Organisation Misc
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Hi, everyone.

I want to propose something I believe could positively increase openHAB’s reach, and I offer to work on it.

As you may have seen from threads like this one OpenHab Marketing is Lacking, users feel something is lacking. We constantly find new articles about Home Assistant and now see Homey more often, yet openHAB doesn’t seem to have a strong media presence.

To tackle that and make openHAB more popular, we should implement a strategy like the one used by Apple with the “Works with Homekit” badge, where we ask “partners” to display on their websites that their product or service works with openHAB. We could create a badge or use our logo.

Many brands could find it valuable to display to their customers that their products can be integrated with many platforms, including ours, even more, if they don’t have to develop anything.

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I believe we can do it keeping in mind the following:

  1. Mutual benefit: There is no need to pay brands to make a partnership; they could simply add our badge/logo to their websites or, even better, create an article with more information. We could do something similar on our blog.
  2. Binding → Partnership: The idea is to target only the brands we currently have a binding for, e.g., Philips Hue. We won’t promise brands that we will develop something to make a partnership.

Let’s remember that most of us started small, purchasing a product from a brand like Philips Hue, so it’s more likely that future users find us on the website of the brands they use rather than searching on the web.

If you agree, I would like to create a draft email to send to the brands we would like to partner with. Before sending it, I would share it here to get your feedback. For that it would be useful to have some statistics, but we can define the details later.

I’m looking forward to your comments.

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2

I think this is a great idea. Many thanks.

In addition to writing an email I suggest you also create a web landing page which explains the program, and the email can link to that.

Furthermore perhaps someone could create a “Works with OpenHAB” .jpg that manufacturers can put on their own web pages. And clicking on that .jpg would take users to the above-mentioned web landing page.

I think then that once the above is ready the challenge will be to find the email addresses of the right persons to address it to at the various manufacturers. i.e. to define the mailing list. (e.g. I personally have email addresses of some people at some manufacturers). So we need to create a mechanism for maintaining that mailing list (maybe on OH GitHub).

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Apropos the mailing list: we should remember that for Zigbee and Z-Wave bindings there are potentially hundreds of manufacturers whom we should address. Same applies to MQTT as well…

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I fully support this.

I would add such a link on our website and encourage all others that deal with Velbus hardware to do the same.

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Thanks for the initiative, Nelson!
It definitely sounds worth a try and I can check if we can come up with a suitable “works with” logo (which should be a png, not a jpeg, Andrew :wink: ).

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Thanks for your endorsement, @Kai.

I would say an SVG (not a PNG or JPG :wink:) image would be better. It could be used in more places without losing quality, so it will never look pixelated regardless the size used by the websites or the device used by their visitors.

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Maybe there should be some kind of a ruleset for “earning” that logo? For example, if we have a binding that works, but is based on reverse engineering because there is no supported API, maybe it wouldn’t make sense to allow using such a logo?

That could also, at least ideologically, send a signal about our values. If our values is to endorse openness and allowing customers to integrate the devices they bought, including those that depend on cloud services? Sorry, didn’t mean to become too polical, but maybe worth a thought. :slight_smile:

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Don’t overdo it. We will not be able to convince all companies to carry such a logo. Many companies have very formal processes for this. I believe we should be happy if they accept to publish our logo.

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Does anyone know if we could potentially have legal requests because “we” reverse-engineered their services?

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IMHO, we should certainly not contact companies when our binding is not using an official API from this company.
Each binding author should be contacted first to check that point.

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I suppose if those companies already advertise HomeConnect compatibilty, they are unlikely to object to OH in addition.

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Maybe for those companies we could modify the strategy a little bit and officially ask them for access to their API.

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I know one company even who says: We do have an API but we don’t document it, or provide developer support; so if you want to use it please refer to [link to OH binding code on GitHub] for examples. :wink:

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:joy: I’ll ask you for the name or website of that company later.

As a separate question, I know we ignore the number of OH users, but I’m wondering if it’s possible to start generating some statistics about the bindings.
For example, just the number of downloads (installs) would do. If we can do that, we could find a way to ask users to (if possible and if it doesn’t cause any issues) uninstall their bindings and reinstall them.
I know it won’t be an exact number but it could give us some usage statistics about the bindings.
Does anyone know if that is possible?

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I dont think that gives the granularity you need, since OH just downloads all add-ons in one single kar file.

I was however thinking of an addition to OH whereby if initialize() is called on a thing or bridge, it would register the usage of that thing. It is not trivial because each user system would need a unique uid, but that uid would have to be anonymous for data protection reasons. Something like the cryptographic hash of the host mac address…

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No,there is no mechanism for such.
Just imagine the number of users that disabled remote repository access and installed the complete addons kar. How should we see, which binding they use?

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I can imagine; that’s why I mentioned I’m aware it won’t be an exact number. There will also be people who won’t uninstall and reinstall the bindings so they are counted.
But isn’t having something better than having nothing?

That might also give some incentive to developers to see how many people use their bindings, and to anyone tracking the platform (including us) to see the usage growth.
Of course, keeping the statistics anonymous.

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It always has been a principle not to collect any usage data and I guess, this is not going to change.

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Hi, everybody.

Here is the email I drafted. I’m looking forward to your comments.

Subject: Invitation to Join openHAB for a Smarter, Interconnected Future

Dear [Brand Name],

On behalf of the openHAB Foundation, a non-profit technology organization, I am excited to share information about openHAB, our leading open-source home automation platform, and how we can benefit your products and services through the “Works with openHAB ” program.

openHAB: empowering the smart home

Since its inception in 2010, openHAB has been a key player in smart home technology, emphasizing user privacy and benefiting from the support of a worldwide community of over 200 active developers. Our platform is designed for broad compatibility, seamlessly integrating with over 2000 devices and services from a variety of brands, including yours .

About the “Works with openHAB” program

We are excited to invite your brand to participate in our “Works with openHAB” program. This collaboration offers an opportunity to expand your brand’s reach and enhance customer experience by confirming the compatibility of your products with our platform. Our global development team has already integrated your products, simplifying the process for you.

All that is required is displaying the “Works with openHAB” logo, attached to this email, on your [program-name] page and provide a link to www.openhab.org.

Benefits of participating in the program include:

  • Promote a new integration feature: Our developers have already completed the technical integration, so you won’t need to dedicate additional resources.
  • Brand visibility: Gain the right to use the “Works with openHAB” logo on your products and marketing materials, showcasing your commitment to smart home innovation and interoperability.
  • Customer engagement: Let your customers know your products and services have a broader reach in the marketplace.

As an open source project and non-profit organization, we are motivated to promote a collaborative and open ecosystem for home automation and IoT technologies.

We are confident this program will be mutually beneficial and look forward to collaborating towards a smarter, interconnected future.

If you have any questions or require more information, please feel free to contact us. We are enthusiastic about the potential of this program and eagerly await your response.

Best regards,

[Your Signature]

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I would change provider to solution on all occurrences.

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