I have Control4 in my house. I don't think it's really accurate to say it's hard-wired. There are some devices that take an ethernet connection (some of the touchscreens, for example). But most of it (and everything I have) communicates over Zigbee. The light switches and dimmers connect in to exactly the same way a regular light switch or dimmer does, which I think is the same as Lutron. And then it talks wirelessly to a little black box that sits in the closet. There's no extra wiring or anything required.

I don't disagree that it would be a hassle to replace all of my switches and stuff if I wanted to go to a different system. And I'd prefer there be a standard around this stuff. But using the term "hard-wired" think gives the impression that it's much more involved than it really is.