12.26.2007 — Exceptional Innovation is rolling out version 2.0.3 of its Lifeware home-control software for Media Center. Ordinarily, I relegate such announcements to a few sentences in the “Briefs” section of CE Pro, but this is different.

The new software is almost unrecognizable from earlier versions, and finally offers the features and flexibility of the industry’s very-high-end home control systems.

I attended one of the very first Lifeware dealer training sessions a couple of years ago. The programming environment was a little bit cumbersome, with a combination of TV- and PC-based configuration. It was simple enough that I could do it, but experienced integrators wished for more functionality (event triggers, for example) and more opportunities for customization beyond the traditional Media Center graphics.

Version 2.0 – the first Vista version – addressed many of these issues, but not all of them.

In 2.0.3, it’s all there. Gone is the TV-based programming interface. Now it’s all done by PC, and it’s all icon-driven with simple drag-and-drop operation that’s so simple even an editor can do it.

“I was very surprised at the leaps and bounds they’ve made,” says Justin Bailey of GQ Digital Home Integration, Inc., Sarasota, Fla. He recently attended the first dealer training on 2.0.3, more than a year after training on earlier Lifeware software. “Their software can compete now with pretty much anything else out there.”

In the new programming environment, “Just start with an empty canvas,” says EI vice president of marketing Mike Seamons. “Drag items onto the desktop and configure it without ever leaving.”

Integrators can design and configure rooms, devices, macros and user interfaces simply by dragging, dropping and right-clicking. Significantly, the system now lets dealers customize the layout of their interfaces, changing background colors, implementing animations, selecting from a wide range of icons, even importing their own graphics.

“They [dealers] wanted to be able to add their own icons, change the menus, and personalize it themselves,” Seamons says. Now they can

I’ve attended Control4 dealer training, and have some first-hand experience with Vantage’s new Infusion Design Center, Superna’s ConfigNet and other automation configuration software. Lifeware 2.0.3 features similarly rich features and ease of configuration, but it is squarely focused on the Media Center environment. Integrators looking for robust integration with Media Center have a new friend in Lifeware.

“I’ve always been a big fan of Media Center,” says Bailey. “I like it. I think it’s a good product. Now I’ve found a control system that coexists with it. It’s a big selling point.”

In his showroom, Bailey runs a demo in which the ringing of a doorbell triggers the system to pause the TV and bring up a surveillance camera. “You can do everything from the same interface,” he says.

GQ just landed its first major Lifeware job.