12.27.2006 — The Electronic House Expo (EHX) in November was like a coming-out party for Windows Vista, the new operating system from Microsoft. At EHX, several vendors provided their first-ever previews of software built for Vista.

In particular, there were several applications built for Media Center Edition (MCE), which will be included on most consumer versions of Vista.

While we’ve seen plenty of fine automation applications built for the Windows XP version of Media Center Edition, developers have had very few tools to work with. They could do little more than add a "My Home" or similar tab to the main MCE menu, and then create Web pages that mimick the look and feel of the MCE graphical user interface (GUI). These add-on applications were not tightly integrated into the Media Center experience.

With Vista, developers have a new programming tool, Media Center Markup Language (MCML), that allows them to create programs that appear to be native to Media Center. The result: richer and more creative applications.

Vista provides other benefits to the industry, including CableCard and touchscreen support—just two of the applications demonstrated at EHX. Here we have a roundup of Vista exhibits on the show floor.

Automation Apps for Vista

Exceptional Innovation provided the first-ever preview of its Lifeware automation software version 2.0 for Vista.

As with Vista itself, Lifeware 2.0 is optimized for viewing on a 16:9 TV, using Vista’s at-a-glance Gallery view. "The icons mimic the look and feel of Vista’s. It presents the consumer with a seamless experience, navigating through their lights, thermostats and other electronics, and enjoying movies, music and other native Media Center applications," says vice president of marketing Mike Seamons.

Elsewhere on the show floor, Microsoft sponsored the Vista Lounge and Media Center Pavilion. There, Cortexa showed the Vista-ready version of its automation software for Media Center, MCML "in order to take full advantage of the exciting new graphics and special effects in Vista," says principal Billy Martin.

Cortexa prefers to run its software on a standalone Linux box, allowing users to access the application from the MCE of their choice. At EHX, the company also showed its software running on an Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC).

Embedded Automation had a preview edition of its Vista-based mControl v2 automation system. Embedded president J.B. Golee lauded the Vista development tools for allowing developers to do "really nice animation," among other things.

"You can go in and out of focus and use a single page to see and control devices without having to press enter all the time," he says.

Autonomic Controls was rolling out applications that allow AMX, Crestron and HAI to operate Media Center Edition via a robust two-way interface. Integrators can create scenes mixed and matched across the operating systems. A tripped sensor, for example, could turn on the lights via AMX and play a song from the Media Center playlist.

Autonomic also had a presence in the Klegg booth, where Klegg showed a TV with built-in Vista Media Center, controllable two-way via IP or RS-232 serial controls.

Other Vista-related solutions demo’d at EHX included the ArcWay gateway from Archronix, which bridges Web Services for Devices (WSD) and ZigBee, potentially allowing any ZigBee-enabled device (light, thermostat, sensor, etc.) to simply show up on a Vista PC. WSD is a hallmark of Vista, and an age-old protocol for connecting business software across corporate networks and the Internet.

In one of the more confusing developments, Honeywell showed its Media Center plug-in for Vista—that is, the company’s flagship Vista security system. Honeywell just made this low-cost security system compatible with the company’s Web-enabling Internet Control Module (ICM).

The ICM allows the security panel to share a common MCE interface with Honeywell thermostats and Lutron lighting controls. Previously, the ICM was only compatible with Honeywell’s higher-end Apex panels. Indeed, at EHX, Honeywell showed its new MCE interface running on Vista—Windows Vista, that is.

Possibly the most compelling Vista demo at EHX came from Superna Systems, maker of a number of hardware and software solutions for plain old PCs, MCE PCs and non-PCs.

In its implementation of ControlWare software for Vista, Superna takes full advantage of the real estate on the main menu, providing easy access to five (that’s the maximum allowed by Vista) "Favorites," in this case home, zones, security, lights and climate.

MCE never looked and sounded so good. In Demo Alley at EHX, Inteset demonstrated the high-performance A/V feature set of a Vista PC. The company, which creates several specialized applications for MCE, like multizone music and a movie management system, plans to port these applications to Vista.

"We are enhancing our existing applications with several new features as well as a whole new Vista UI," says president Jeff Lloyd.