For the user of the Home Automation Servers, NetHomeServer offers:
Without having to write any code or cryptic xml-configuration files, you can connect events to actions, like when someone enters a room, a lamp is lit and then slowly dimmed and finally turned off.
No installation is needed for NetHomeServer, just unzip the server wehere you want it, and start it, no configuration is needed for initial start. WEB-server is embedded (jetty). The server works on both Linux and Windows.