As opposed to an "expert" who appears to have 0 experience in the industry and refuses to say how many installs he's done? Let's see if one of us Neanderthals can offer an analysis of Lifeware.

1. Lifeware wants to change the home automation paradigm as have many before them such as Premise Systems, and their compatriot Control4 (though I am no C4 fan, I happen to think they have quite a good grasp of the industry and the paradigm they seek to create is a sound one).

2. Generally a company that seeks to change the paradigm under which an industry operates can challenge it in one ore two major ways. But it's exceptionally difficult to challenge virtually every paradigm in an industry all at once. More on that in a moment.

3. Some of the paradigms LW is challenging:
a. The product is software based.
b. The pricing structure is unprecedented (in THIS industry). For instance, they want to charge the end user based on the number of devices the system will control. Want to control 50 lights instead of 60? Your price changes. Want to add 10 more lights a month down the road? You have to pay LW more to control them even if you already own all the LW hardware!
c. It is heavily integrated with MS media center product.
d. It can be very expensive while not offering customization capabilities dealers playing in those price ranges are used to enjoying (and yes I DO understand the potential advantages of a unified and consistent UI).
e. and on and on...

4. LF doesn't even seem to know how to define their own product in a few sentences or less. Is it based on Media Center? Is it a piece of software? Does it just offer an extender that happens to integrate with Media Center? LW may respond that these things do not matter to the end user, that it's the *experience* that matters and they would be correct. But they DO matter to the dealer and it is dealers they need to sell their product.

5. LW seems to be very secretive about their product. I recall reading that people had to sign an NDA to see the software or see price lists (I am sure I will be corrected but I remember it being a bit bizarre)? Again, this indicates a serious disconnect from THIS industry. Sure, I've had to sign NDA's when beta testing something etc., but come on.

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I could come up with more but that's a start. Now does all of that mean I think I know everything or that I'm sure they cannot succeed? No, but I am darn skeptical, and it has nothing to do with the fact that I hate MS or am threatened by change ot any of that nonsense. It has to do with understanding that they have a touch nut to crack here. One thing I notice EVERY TIME a software company enters this market is that they do NOT understand it. I remember smiling to myself the first time I looked at Premise Systems and thinking "ya, this is pretty cool, it's ashame you don't know you won't succeed". I do have to give LF some small credit that they are at least trying to develop a model that will result in recurring income and not just depend on software sales.

Final thought in this post is that I'm not about to get on a plane to visit them nor attend their training. If they want to attract successful high-end dealers who can sell a product like this, then put up an area on your website where potential dealers can get technical information about the product and (gasp) download the software and evaluate it.