The Palm Pilot as a remote is good for those who:

a) Already have a Pilot
b) Don't want to spend a lot of money
c) Are looking for customization of button placement & labels

Drawbacks are:

a) The unit must be used upside down in remote mode
b) Most require an add-on IR booster dongle
c) Limited to 15 screens (my Pronto uses 19, plus 7 "favorite channel" screens and a home screen for a total of 27)
d) No custom graphics possible
e) Your Pilot cannot realisticly be used for any other purpose - if you're keeping day planners, phone contacts, etc on it, is it always going to be by the home theater for everyone else? Do you want strangers poking through your personal data?

The Pilot is a PIM, not a remote. People have managed to get programmable scientific calculators to play games and music - does that mean it's designed or even vaugely good for that purpose?

Not I'm not saying don't get one -- that's a personal decision. However after seeing what the Pronto can do, the Pilot fails to impress as a practical home theater control device.