Either way you go it beats focusing the old fashioned way and you'll kick yourself for bothering to ask.
tbh i'm not sure if mine is the sw or a clone, it was a cheapie anyway. the hand controller may be why I was thinking its using a stepper motor, could just be the way the controller signals. but like I said it gets you 99.99% perfect focus. My handset box connectgs to the focuser with a spiral phone cord and you can safely unclip it from the focuseronce youve focused if you want one less cable to trouble you in the dark or get tangled on the tripod in a long session.
You dont need to grab the shoestring too right away, get the focuser, attached and working, it will do the job well then look into the shoestring and software side and add it later on when you're comfortable. I dont know if the combo offers practical benefits over the original product you were looking at besides price. Its not like the difference between cheap optics and expensive.