I think it is best to design with software (but try not to move buttons across each other - see the "darn clones..." thread), download, learn, then do macros. Then upload at least the learned program. Most people have trouble uploading, and even if you can upload a simple model successfully, a more complicated model may NOT upload correctly, then you are stuck. Preprogramming helps a little with the hard keys but is pretty useless for the soft keys unless you are willing to relabel them all (the labels won't agree with the preprogrammed function in most cases). It is much faster to design the buttons with the software and you can position them better, plus you can add a few custom buttons to the set if you like.