A lot of smart devices are just an esp that basically does that. The zigbee and z-wave stuff isn’t even internet connected. A usb dongle connected to a PC running smart home software locally controls it.
It’s weird that so much has sprung up around personal homes when businesses had bacnet for years and years. Most of that stuff is wired up with basic analog inputs and outputs.
Personally, I like hardwired everything and would like to see more PoE stuff come out rather than wireless. I hate dealing with batteries because some people can’t deal with running low voltage wires.
A big one for me was user management. I don’t have to concern myself with that. So it helps. They also have apps for most things, I can just say go get Plex instead of what device are you using? Get x app. Here is the server information you’ll need to put in.
I didn’t have to put a lot of effort into managing the people using it.