People have this idea that I'm either too paranoid or I might do things "better", but it's so arcane and confusing that they never could manage.

Of course the truth is that it might be a bit arcane to initially set up, but actually using it isn't any more complicated than the commercial ones, except that you actually control what it does.

Then again, I don't see why anyone would want lots of these things anyway - even if it was all selfhosted, do you really need a videocamera doorbell or app controlled lights? Some of these things just scream to me actually slower and more troublesome than just doing it the old fashioned way. Then again, I still like desktops with wired keyboards and mice, and I still prefer them to voice control or touch screens.