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- Actions speak louder than words.
-
- Which is why we’re launching a new non-profit organization: the Open
- Home Foundation.
-
- Saturday, April 20, 2024
-- We created the Open Home Foundation to fight for the fundamental - principles of privacy, choice, - and sustainability for smart homes. And every - person who lives in one. -
-- Ahead of today, we’ve transferred over 240 projects, standards, - drivers, and libraries—Home Assistant, ESPHome, - Zigpy, Piper, Improv Wi-Fi, Wyoming, - and so many more—to the Open Home Foundation. This is all about - looking into the future. We’ve done this to create a bulwark - against surveillance capitalism, the risk of buyout, and open - source projects becoming abandonware. To an extent, this - protection extends even against our future selves—so that smart - home users can continue to benefit for years, if not decades. No - matter what comes. -
-- But the work of the Open Home Foundation doesn’t stop there. - Through close partnership with Nabu Casa, the foundation funds, - directs resources to, and collaborates on the development of - critical external projects like Z-Wave JS, WLED, - Rhasspy, and Zigbee2MQTT. Our main requirements are - that the projects remain open to everyone, and aligned with our - core principles. -
-This is what we’ve already done.
-- Our aim is to have the resources to be an active political - advocate. Serving to educate the public, public servants, and the - companies making smart home devices and services, about the - importance of open standards, open source projects, and privacy, - choice, and sustainability when it comes to the future of smart - homes. -
-Here’s how we understand these principles:
-- Privacy means you control your data. Nobody, and no company or - organization, has a right to know what you do in your home, with - whom you meet or associate, or how you choose to live—without your - explicit permission. You should only share this information if you - freely make the choice to do so without external pressure. That’s - why your devices need to work locally. It’s OK for a product to - offer a cloud connection—but its main functionality should work - without the cloud. And the use of cloud services should always be - opt-in and clearly described. -
-- You should never have to worry about being yourself to avoid being - tracked or classified by an algorithm. You should be able to live - your life—because nobody is watching. -
-- Choice means you have the freedom to use any device, with any - other, from any manufacturers, any way you like—for as long as you - want. To make this possible, vendors must not arbitrarily limit - the interoperability of their devices with the rest of your smart - home. Control of those devices, and management of data they - gather, should operate via open standards and local APIs. -
-- You should be able to design your personal smart home—the way you - imagine it. -
-- Sustainability means being able to use and repurpose old - appliances, smart devices, and other durable hardware beyond - commercially-limited lifetimes as your smart home evolves. But it - also means having the tools to limit your environmental impact by - tracking, automating, and reducing waste and emissions. -
-- You should be able to embrace the convenience of a smart home - without compromising your ability to cut utility bills—and your - carbon footprint. -
-- As many people in this community already know, the Home Assistant - Journey started over 10 years ago when Paulus Schoutsen wrote a - few lines of Python to take control of his Philips Hue smart - lights. His motivation was greater control over the devices he’d - purchased—rather than letting a corporate giant decide what was - best for his home. -
-- This act struck such a chord that over the coming years, thousands - of mostly volunteer contributors transformed that first script - into a leading smart home platform. They also built an entire - ecosystem of projects around it. -
-- But two other critical trends also took place, one far more - troubling: The smart home landscape grew dominated by companies - whose purpose was to sell you new devices on a schedule to please - their shareholders—while siphoning off your personal data for - financial gain. -
-- The other trend was Schoutsen and others approaching burn-out as - they tried to keep their various projects thriving—doing most of - their coding after coming home from their real jobs, on weekends, - and when bugs needed squashing. -
-- To address this, Schoutsen, Ben Bangert, and Pascal Vizeli founded - Nabu Casa in 2018 as a for-profit company. The goal was to - stabilize Home Assistant, and bolster its longevity, by injecting - predictable funding for future development. Nabu Casa also bought - ESPHome, with the same purpose in mind. -
-- Early on, some people questioned whether starting a for-profit - company was an altruistic move. But over the following years, Nabu - Casa established a clear and accountable track record. This - included practicing what it preached: Speaking up to protect open - source ideals when other developers came under threat; directing - full-time employees to devote their days to open source, - community-driven, smart home projects; and joining organizations - like the Connectivity Standards Alliance and Z-Wave Alliance, and - the general fight for critical open standards like Zigbee, Z-Wave, - and Matter. -
-- By 2021, Schoutsen and others defined a concept called the open - home, built around the principles of privacy, choice, and - sustainability. But Home Assistant and other open home projects - were still floating in a kind of undefined space between a - for-profit entity and an open source repository on Github. -
-- So in 2023, this core group of smart home developers decided to - codify and protect their ideals. And to create a formal home for - the projects they and so many other contributors had poured their - souls, beliefs, and shared code into. -
-- Individual efforts needed to be united. And in 2024, the Open Home - Foundation was created to unite them—with a special, rules-bound, - inaugural partner in Nabu Casa to provide the majority of the - funding. -
-- Share your ideas. Speak up. Contribute. Subscribe. Support. Tell - us where we can do better. Champion our cause. -
-- We see this as a living project, in fitting with the mosaic - threads of DNA that represent our past. -
-- We’ve always stood for open source, creativity, and taking - initiative. And we have no doubt that this organization will - evolve over the years. We will remain true to our principles of - privacy, choice, and sustainability for the smart home. And always - open to finding the best way to achieve our goals. -
-We hope you’ll join us.
-+ We created the Open Home Foundation to fight for the fundamental + principles of privacy, choice, + and sustainability for smart homes. And every + person who lives in one. +
++ Ahead of today, we've transferred over 240 projects, standards, + drivers, and libraries—Home Assistant, ESPHome, + Zigpy, Piper, Improv Wi-Fi, Wyoming, + and so many more—to the Open Home Foundation. This is all about + looking into the future. We've done this to create a bulwark + against surveillance capitalism, the risk of buyout, and open + source projects becoming abandonware. To an extent, this + protection extends even against our future selves—so that smart + home users can continue to benefit for years, if not decades. No + matter what comes. +
++ But the work of the Open Home Foundation doesn't stop there. + Through close partnership with Nabu Casa, the foundation funds, + directs resources to, and collaborates on the development of + critical external projects like Z-Wave JS, WLED, + Rhasspy, and Zigbee2MQTT. Our main requirements are + that the projects remain open to everyone, and aligned with our + core principles. +
+This is what we've already done.
++ Our aim is to have the resources to be an active political + advocate. Serving to educate the public, public servants, and the + companies making smart home devices and services, about the + importance of open standards, open source projects, and privacy, + choice, and sustainability when it comes to the future of smart + homes. +
+Here's how we understand these principles:
++ Privacy means you control your data. Nobody, and no company or + organization, has a right to know what you do in your home, with + whom you meet or associate, or how you choose to live—without your + explicit permission. You should only share this information if you + freely make the choice to do so without external pressure. That's + why your devices need to work locally. It's OK for a product to + offer a cloud connection—but its main functionality should work + without the cloud. And the use of cloud services should always be + opt-in and clearly described. +
++ You should never have to worry about being yourself to avoid being + tracked or classified by an algorithm. You should be able to live + your life—because nobody is watching. +
++ Choice means you have the freedom to use any device, with any + other, from any manufacturers, any way you like—for as long as you + want. To make this possible, vendors must not arbitrarily limit + the interoperability of their devices with the rest of your smart + home. Control of those devices, and management of data they + gather, should operate via open standards and local APIs. +
++ You should be able to design your personal smart home—the way you + imagine it. +
++ Sustainability means being able to use and repurpose old + appliances, smart devices, and other durable hardware beyond + commercially-limited lifetimes as your smart home evolves. But it + also means having the tools to limit your environmental impact by + tracking, automating, and reducing waste and emissions. +
++ You should be able to embrace the convenience of a smart home + without compromising your ability to cut utility bills—and your + carbon footprint. +
++ As many people in this community already know, the Home Assistant + Journey started over 10 years ago when Paulus Schoutsen wrote a + few lines of Python to take control of his Philips Hue smart + lights. His motivation was greater control over the devices he'd + purchased—rather than letting a corporate giant decide what was + best for his home. +
++ This act struck such a chord that over the coming years, thousands + of mostly volunteer contributors transformed that first script + into a leading smart home platform. They also built an entire + ecosystem of projects around it. +
++ But two other critical trends also took place, one far more + troubling: The smart home landscape grew dominated by companies + whose purpose was to sell you new devices on a schedule to please + their shareholders—while siphoning off your personal data for + financial gain. +
++ The other trend was Schoutsen and others approaching burn-out as + they tried to keep their various projects thriving—doing most of + their coding after coming home from their real jobs, on weekends, + and when bugs needed squashing. +
++ To address this, Schoutsen, Ben Bangert, and Pascal Vizeli founded + Nabu Casa in 2018 as a for-profit company. The goal was to + stabilize Home Assistant, and bolster its longevity, by injecting + predictable funding for future development. Nabu Casa also bought + ESPHome, with the same purpose in mind. +
++ Early on, some people questioned whether starting a for-profit + company was an altruistic move. But over the following years, Nabu + Casa established a clear and accountable track record. This + included practicing what it preached: Speaking up to protect open + source ideals when other developers came under threat; directing + full-time employees to devote their days to open source, + community-driven, smart home projects; and joining organizations + like the Connectivity Standards Alliance and Z-Wave Alliance, and + the general fight for critical open standards like Zigbee, Z-Wave, + and Matter. +
++ By 2021, Schoutsen and others defined a concept called the open + home, built around the principles of privacy, choice, and + sustainability. But Home Assistant and other open home projects + were still floating in a kind of undefined space between a + for-profit entity and an open source repository on Github. +
++ So in 2023, this core group of smart home developers decided to + codify and protect their ideals. And to create a formal home for + the projects they and so many other contributors had poured their + souls, beliefs, and shared code into. +
++ Individual efforts needed to be united. And in 2024, the Open Home + Foundation was created to unite them—with a special, rules-bound, + inaugural partner in Nabu Casa to provide the majority of the + funding. +
++ Share your ideas. Speak up. Contribute. Subscribe. Support. Tell + us where we can do better. Champion our cause. +
++ We see this as a living project, in fitting with the mosaic + threads of DNA that represent our past. +
++ We've always stood for open source, creativity, and taking + initiative. And we have no doubt that this organization will + evolve over the years. We will remain true to our principles of + privacy, choice, and sustainability for the smart home. And always + open to finding the best way to achieve our goals. +
+We hope you'll join us.