Ubiquiti doesn't invent anything; they make it cheap with a better UI.

Better UI is stretching it a bit... Maybe for the amateur/enthusiast (homelab) market...

I certainly don't need or want their rack augmented reality... 'feature'? fad? And their clunky web UI is both limiting and slowing me down. Thanks, I'm perfectly fine with a console and simple LEDs.

That’s their exact niche.

That and SMB’s. I’ve seen a lot of Ubiquity gear in small hotels, random small businesses, etc. Especially hotels, they seem to be super common (not big chains like Hilton or whatever but smaller boutique hotels).

The UI for the fs.com programmer is merely "not bad". This could easily be great in comparison.

> I certainly don't need or want their rack augmented reality... 'feature'? fad?

I find it mind-boggling that you can hardly buy _RAM_ anymore without programmable RGB LEDs, but that managed switches do not come with a per-port RGB LED to let me mark VLANs or cables that need replacements or whatever. Come on! A nice little square all around the port, please. Instead, we get the QR code plus an app that needs to talk with the cloud.

Some of their switches have Etherlighting™.

Yes, if you have special Ubnt-brand cables. And still, I want this to be standard everywhere, not a niche thing from one manufacturer :-) (I know Facebook has some on their 100G switches, too.)

I'm pretty sure that the only thing special about the cables is the boot that transmits the light from the port's LED array fairly well.