Thank you for your candid feedback about the direction of your product. I agree with you that X10 does have reliability problems and for someone just starting out it would be best to avoid it if possible. But for those of us that have hundreds of dollars invested in X10 lighting and security systems, with wall outlets and light switched wired with it, It just does not make economic sense to replace it with the more expensive Indigo system. I also suspect that Indigo is not the end to end all but rather a way-point on the path to home automation. I further suspect that in a few years their will be another more advanced and hopefully easier to configure and understand system to replace it.
Additionally as far as I know, Indigo, or anyone else other than X10 does not offer an affordable wireless self monitoring security system. All the other systems I have seen are wired, have expensive hardware, and/or must have a professional monitoring service. It just does not make economic sense to me to have to pay for both the security sensors and alarm system, along with a monthly fee for professional monitoring, when there are plenty of alarm companies that will provide the hardware for free if you sign up for a monitoring contract. There seems little difference in the monitoring cost for this, and any difference saved will take a very long time to amortize the cost of a separate purchase of the equipment.
With X10, so long as I can live with its quarks, I have an integrated lighting and security system, that when working properly, works very well. The only issue is that occasionally it does not work very well at all, and admittedly it can be very frustrating at times. I wish I knew of a better affordable wireless security/control system other than X10, but so far I have not found one.
In any case, it sounds like you sort of agree with me regarding 1.8 in that 2.0 strong points are found in its on-line operation in an always on system. For those that would rather work with a dedicated controller running off-line, it sounds like 1.8 should be adequate and a better value for our needs. Hopefully you still plan to provide any serious bug fixes and Leopard compatibility for it.