I can't disagree with a word of this. The writer at least admits they're unaware of all the options available. A sensible smart home doesn't have to be internet connected. Being connected ads convenience, but there's always a cost. Sometimes that cost is monetary and some times it's your personal data. Choose wisely.
He raises some good points about the security-side of things. I think a lot of us are on this platform for that very reason 
But his usability argument is way off-point, in my mind. The idea of home automation is that your environment adapts to your wants, needs, and health situations. It’s not that you want a home remote to perform magic tricks for guests (although, sometimes...), it’s that you want to not have your basement flood, or you want a picture of who’s in your driveway when someone rings the doorbell.
I get he’s trying to make a point about that, and a lot of people equate home automation to either magic tricks for guests, or a home remote, but that’s not necessarily fair to say about automation as a whole...
My opinion is, he's trying to 'warn' the people that are early into the home automation arc. They are the ones that have devices that connect best to WiFi devices and thus are entirely free to converse with the cloud. Obviously ZWave and Zigbee devices can't natively do that. Thus they don't even try. In other words even with an Internet connected hub, a Z-Device won't be telling the manufacturer anything. Not at all like a WiFi device.. which will use a gig a year in tattling.
Home Remote Control is a very large business. Unlike the Home Automation business. 
