[$] A kernel developer plays with Home Assistant: general impressions

Those of us who have spent our lives playing with computers naturally see
the appeal of deploying them though the home for both data acquisition and
automation. But many of us who have watched the evolution of the
technology industry are increasingly unwilling to entrust critical
household functions to cloud-based servers run by companies that may not
have our best interests at heart. The Apache-licensed Home Assistant project offers a
welcome alternative: locally controlled automation with free software.
This two-part series covers roughly a year of Home Assistant use, starting
with a set of overall observations about the project.