DMXIS seems like it's not bad, but it doesn't seem to be head-and-shoulders above any of the others from my perspective. I personally don't find them friendly at all, but that could be because I've gotten quite used to the the 'big boy' consoles' interface and workflow.
That said, almost all of the $299 software options are going to be a lot like Chauvet ShowExpress / Elation Compu_ / DasLight. The last piece of software I used was Martin Light Jockey about 4 or 5 years ago, and it was clunky as all hell and quite time-consuming to program (which I only realized after I started using the 'real' desks) but I wrung a LOT of results out of it. I'm honestly not all that familiar with the lower end of stuff - most of the time I'm working on HogIII or GrandMA / GrandMA2 (and sometimes Avolites) desks.
