OK, first up I have to admit that I have BIG hands and no problems with working the Pronto one handed. Unfortunately my feet are not in the same league :-)

That old chestnut of hard keys vs touchscreen could just run forever. However I just don't see how you can build a universal remote with every key you might ever need without it making the remote unusable again due to size/space and introducing a whole new game of "hunt the button". I think its down to personal preference but I do like the balance of hard and soft keys that the Pronto delivers and haven't hit any kind of wall with wanting more hard keys for common tasks.

As regards the programming skill levels and flexibility I think there are fundamental issues of product intent and support. It scares me shitless whenever poeple say they want to get hold of internal file formats and controls for any software or hardware. It is absolutely certain that they are a tiny minority of customers who will only generate their own problems. Yes its a biased view but one grown out of being on the software supplier side for all my professional career both as a developer and in sales. I note also in the original post the view that the Pronto doesn't come set up enough out of the box. Any product that tries to bridge that range of user expectations is doomed to failure. However there is room for improvement here. For example the suggestion by one of the earlier posters that the Pronto come with a CD-ROM library of common devices could be very slick (reality is that for cost and support reasons it would have to be web site driven rather than actually on the CD). Frankly though I suspect I would have done little more than rip off a few ideas from such a library. I actually quite enjoy the creative challenge of incorporating new kit and moving gradually towards the perfect CCF. I do hope they smarten up the UI of Prontoedit though as it looks a bit unprofessional certainly when compared to that for the HK take Control.

Anyway thats just my quick thoughts as I am a happy Pronto user. I think it has pitched itself just right into the considerable space between the "one-for-all" range and restrictively expensive "system controllers". Philips are not alone in seeing this market.