Clearly, I'm in full agreement (and now, specifically, the Slide).

My first big-time universal remote was the Philips Pronto TSU1000. It had only 7 hard buttons (channel and volume up/down, mute, and two additional buttons). That just wasn't enough for me, so I upgraded to the TSU3500, which has the channel and volume sets and mute, but instead of the two additional buttons has a d-pad surrounded by four buttons, effectively adding six buttons to the face. That has been a big difference, although I still tend to use the Pronto primarily to turn things on/off and switch inputs.

Tivo peanut FTW!