Comment by windexh8er 11 hours ago
As someone who's run (and continues to run) both ZWave and Zigbee networks for over 10 years I find the direction of Zigbee rather frustrating. They used to be the antithesis of Zwave with it's frustrating "licensing" and now seems to be as though they're towing that line. Most likely because they got in bed with Google, Apple and the garbage that is Matter.
It didn't solve any of the issues it proclaimed to. And, if you look across open platforms (e.g. HomeAssistant) it has, comparatively, low uptake on available integrations because Matter is a vehicle for proclaimed interop by walled garden experts (e.g. Apple, Google, etc).
Could you be more specific?
I've got several Matter smart plugs and a couple Matter smart bulbs.
They all were quick and easy to set up with their first Matter controller (an RPi4 running Home Assistant or an iPad with Apple Home), and quick and easy to add to whichever controller I didn't use as the first controller.
They all worked then without requiring me to get their manufacturer's proprietary app or make an account or anything like that.
Some needed a firmware update to support Matter 1.3, and so I had to use the manufacturer's app for that. Some also have proprietary functions and options (for example one of bulbs supports some kind of presence detection if you have at least two of those bulbs in the same room) so I might get the manufacturers app if I decide I want to use those functions.
Adding them to the manufacturer's app does not interfere with their use as Matter devices so if I do decide I want to use some of the proprietary stuff it doesn't break things.
1) If you have to use a manufacturers app for updates that's already falling into my point. 2) There are plenty of threads out there discussing manufacturers that leverage Matter but they force their own controller to be able to be used. A lot of these are together at builders as another revenue stream for them.
Finally... This [0] does a better job of explaining the issues with Matter. But, Matter is ultimately a joke. It was promoted as a standard by vendors nobody should trust for interoperability at this point.
[0] https://community.home-assistant.io/t/if-matter-is-a-suppose...
What’s wrong with Matter?