I do agree with most of what you said. Same as you I am not aligning to a particular school.

Thanks for the "modern" attribute, and pardon me if my statements can be biased because indeed I am a developer, since 30 years. No particular attachment to any OS but I like KISS. Same, I don't like to lose my time. So I'm all for standards , reusability, don't repeat yourself and simplicity. I've also learned to listen to my gut feeling.

I am not advocating for ASCOM. It's here, widely used, so here we are. It has evolved from what was great at the time (COM ActiveX) to .NET, to REST API. A great evolution that follows what is done in the industry of the WWW. That's it.

Saying that INDI is more mature than Alpaca is not only stating the obvious considering that the first has now years of existence and refinery, but it's also (un-)voluntarely shooting an arrow at the embryo (Alpaca). Apart from the age difference, it's as good as comparing potatoes and carrots.

I don't know how savvy you are, but the first time I ran the ASCOM REST Server, I could reach my 'scope within minutes in postman, and drive it with node-red. If that is not simplicity than we don't speak the same language ??

And the reason why ASCOM didn't go the REST route earlier is mostly because it's only recently that wiring up a REST API with VS and the plethora of Nuget packages is as easy as pie, or can it be that Peter was on other projects, who knows. I still don't know how I can guide my INDI-driven 'scope via a simple restful request, but I didn't check the latest changelogs...

"If It works" depends on your expectations, which are variable for everyone.

At the moment, either my expectations are lower than yours or I am luckier because it "just" works, and beautifully.

Cheers

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