The Self-Host Cast Interview: Paulus Schoutsen (Home Assistant)
Oct 15, 2024
Paulus Schoutsen, founder of Home Assistant and president of the Open Home Foundation, leads the open-source smart home movement. He discusses local-first privacy, creating a foundation to protect project mission, certification for device longevity, making the project sustainable, and practical tradeoffs for running Home Assistant and local AI/voice options.
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Foundation Secures Project Mission
- Paulus donated Home Assistant to the Open Home Foundation to lock in mission and prevent sale or investor-driven drift.
- The Swiss foundation structure legally restricts widening the mission, protecting privacy and choice.
Design Governance To Prevent Drift
- Do clarify governance for open-source projects so leadership can't unilaterally change direction.
- Use structures (like a foundation) to preserve values and avoid conflicts from investor-driven OpenCore models.
Certification To Extend Device Lifetimes
- Works With Home Assistant became a certification program to guarantee long-term device compatibility.
- The program forces vendors to commit to updates, test devices, and engineering contacts for longevity.