Down To Earth Software Announces HOMEwise 3.2

Down To Earth Software has announced that a new version of their flagship product, HOMEwise©, is available. HOMEwise is a multi-function home and family organizational software program that runs on Windows-based PCs.

HOMEwise Version 3.2 incorporates several improvements over previous versions, which have been on the market for over a year. The most significant change is the improved HOMEwise interface. To better accommodate the use of other programs, the new interface can be controlled as a window on the desktop that can be moved, minimized and restored as desired by the user.

To facilitate upgradability for current users of HOMEwise, the HOMEwise 3.2 data format is backward- compatible, allowing HOMEwise 2 data files to be loaded into Version 3.2. Current users can move up to HOMEwise 3.2 without having to re-enter any data.

An improved installation process allows HOMEwise to be uninstalled, if necessary, via a supplied utility. The shareware version of HOMEwise 3.2 is available as a single, self-extracting file which simplifies the installation process infinitely - requiring no ZIP utilities to install. The retail version of HOMEwise will also benefit from the improved installation, compressing the entire program onto just two diskettes.

The first time HOMEwise 3.2 is run after being installed, the user is greeted by a 'Configuration Wizard' which guides them through the initial setup of the HOMEwise program for their specific household. This is a further refinement to the already easy-to-use HOMEwise interface.

From its initial release in January, 1995, Down To Earth Software's HOMEwise has received much praise for its ease of use, functionality and intuitive design. Steve Clifford, Director of Product Development at DTES comments, "Other software companies often change everything around when they introduce new versions. With HOMEwise, we wanted to stick with the interface that our users have always found to be obvious, intuitive and comfortable -- but, at the same time, make it even better." Tony Walton, president and co-founder of DTES puts it in a more "down to earth" way: "If it ain’t broke, don't fix it." He continues, "We have offered the world a program that every member of every family that owns a home computer can use and benefit from every day. The world has said 'We love it!'. Therefore, we owe it to our users - present and future - to maintain the elegant simplicity of HOMEwise."

Canadian Software Goes International

Down To Earth Software Inc. is pleased to announce the signing of an agreement which will see their initial offering, "HOMEwise ...the complete home and family organizer", published around the world.

Global Software Publishing, based in Cambridgeshire, UK, will release the program September 1/95 in the UK, Scandinavia, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong.

Down To Earth Software recognized the need to adapt its product and its selling approach to ensure that local cultures and buying habits were taken into account. HOMEwise has, therefore, been fully localized for the British market and, as an integral part of GSP's growing range of lifestyle software, will be immediately accepted in those markets by retailer and end user alike.

"We were most impressed with HOMEwise as soon as we saw it on the Internet several months ago," says Dave Brass, Managing Director of GSP. "With our proven track record of success and DTE's outstanding product, we knew we had a winning combination. This relationship will ensure instant access to the UK market and to over 3000 computer retailers worldwide".

Tony Walton and Steve Clifford, co-creators of HOMEwise, are extremely excited about this recent development. Walton explains, "We set out to produce a truly meaningful home and family information management program - one which all the members of the average family not only could use but would want to use on a day-to-day basis. Since HOMEwise offers almost two hundred different ways for you to organize your home and family, maintain valuable records, maximize your time and generally make your life easier, it has enormous appeal. With so many families using computers at home now, we felt that this was the right product at the right time. It appears we were correct."

What's next for DTES? "With our own sales team now in place across Canada and with the GSP taking care of foreign sales, that only leaves the big one - the US," says Walton. "To handle that market we have established a US corporation headquartered in Boston with a branch office in Ogdensburg, NY. In addition to all of that, Steve and I have three exciting new products in the works, two of which are scheduled for release shortly and all of which are fully compatible with Microsoft's Windows '95." (Now '98 and XP as well)

Priced at only US$21.95 (CDN$32.00), HOMEwise is available directly from Down To Earth Software Inc. as an internet download.

HOMEwise - The Complete Home and Family Organizer

If two imaginative entrepreneurs have their way, it may not be too long before the term "home computer" takes on a whole new meaning - its real meaning in this age of information. Their new software, HOMEwise, offers almost two hundred different ways for you to organize your home and family, maintain valuable records, maximize your time and generally make your life easier.

With something for everyone in the family and with on-screen help written in plain, down-to-earth English - not "computer talk" - HOMEwise effectively answers the oft-asked question, "O.K., so now we’ve got a computer at home, what are we going to do with it?"

"Currently, the use of a computer in the home is restricted mainly to a few key areas: assistance with the operation of a home-based business; as an extension of the 9 to 5 office and, of course, playing computer games," observes Steve Clifford, one of the two directors of the new company, Down To Earth Software Incorporated.

Tony Walton, the other half of the team and creator of HOMEwise, comments that, "Although many home-use oriented computer programs are available from a variety of software and shareware publishers and distributors, most are simple, stand-alone products which perform just one or two basic functions. For example, you can get programs which will help you balance your chequebook, ones which keep track of your video tapes, your recipes, or your personal telephone book. And there are a few notable exceptions out there which do several things but, on the whole, finding one program which offers all of these features - plus many, many more - has been virtually impossible until now."

"We set out to produce a truly meaningful home and family management program - one which all the members of the average family not only could use but would want to use on a day-to-day basis. It had to satisfy many criteria, but there was one absolutely key consideration: that one member of most families who, by virtue of age, attitude or lack of experience, has the least inclination to use a computer. Having kept that special person in mind constantly throughout the year-long development and testing stages, we are confident that HOMEwise has emerged as a success," said Walton. "I knew we were on the right track when my mother, Kathy Walton (at 70-something), ran an early version of the program through its first practical test with very little prompting and no real difficulty. She noticed immediately that everything was easy to see, easy to read and easy to understand. Now she uses HOMEwise every week to organize the grocery shopping, plan meals, write notes to friends and keep track of her knitting projects."

The program itself was written by Steve Clifford, Director of Product Development, and takes full advantage of the Microsoft Windows graphical user interface which means, simply, "point to a picture and click on it". This has resulted in a finished product of enormous sophistication yet incredible ease of use. Technically, HOMEwise will run well on virtually any computer capable of running Windows.

Even the most novice or reluctant user may navigate comfortably and confidently through the HOMEwise "electronic house" using the "point-and-click" mouse, accessing such practical applications as family libraries, bank accounts, expense records, home and vehicle maintenance records, calendars, diaries, insurance inventories, things to do lists, home, school and work project organizers, and family medical and dental histories, to name but a few - there’s even a "Kids’ Chores" list. (Bad news, kids, sorry.)

Described as "the program that grows with your family", HOMEwise is customized by the initial user so that it becomes specific and unique to the family members or individuals who will be using the program, with accommodation for as many or as few users as necessary. An easily recognizable house layout with kitchen, living room, dining room, family room, bedrooms, study, basement, garage - and much more - greets the user upon start-up. The user may then go into any room and, from there, activate one of the many available functions simply by pointing to and clicking on the appropriate "icon", or picture button. Privacy is assured by "password protected access" to such sensitive areas as bank information, personal journals or diaries and bedrooms. (Good news, kids, privacy at last!). All functions may be viewed on-screen and as printouts.

There are many interactive components such as the Shopping Lists and the Recipe Book which require the user to actually work with the program in order to create the desired, personalized result. The interactive Message Center allows busy family members to stay in touch with each other. HOMEwise even includes a small, but fully functional word processing module, removing the need for a separate, added-cost, stand-alone program. The list goes on and on...

Steve Clifford and Tony Walton recognize that there is not yet a computer in every home, but they also know that that situation is changing very quickly. They hope to help it along with the introduction of HOMEwise and many subsequent programs from their new and exciting Manotick company, Down To Earth Software Inc.

Priced at only US$21.95 (CDN$32.00), HOMEwise is available directly from Down To Earth Software Inc. as an internet download.

Copyright © 1994 - 2004 Down To Earth Software Inc. All rights reserved.
HOMEwise is a registered trademark of Down To Earth Software Inc.