Remotes: Who needs 'em?

I just read that Viagra joke somewhere else today(can't remember where though). I WILL say that both my TacT and BAT remotes are very intuitively designed and devoid of any un-necessary buttons.

So I guess I am inadequate as I am disabled, thankfully I can control the drool but other than the fact you made me understand my physical shortcomings I see no point to your thread. When you dont need the remote dont use it, when you need it then use it and figure out something in life that makes you happy.

Hmm... so the neurologist was feeding me an urban legend/industry joke rather than an actual (but anonymous) patient account...

Chadnliz, and anybody else who does actually use a remote, my intent was NOT to castigate anybody who uses a remote for any kind of real purpose-- My rant concerns an otherwise very intelligently-designed piece of two-channel audio gear that has a standard remote with 57 buttons, including 14 dual-function ones and four videos. If I can find anybody who has ever taken advantage of even half this number on a given remote, I will be satisfied that there is some niche of the market that actually finds this a real selling point that would tip his purchasing decision toward this device over, say, an identical unit with a rational remote that provided only the basic, useful functions. My invective is driven by my pessimism that NOBODY wants this kind of complexity and overkill in his personal life and it is being forced on us by marketers and designers who subscribe to a phenomenon known as "feature creep." The "drooling idiot" is a character that I am positive does not exist in real life excepting the imaginations of the marketers and designers, a character that they must think characterizes us. The inadequacy I am lampooning is our collective inability to memorize and utilize a 71-function remote on which the only useful buttons are quite small and will be worn out long before the majority are ever touched, except by accident. I do apologize if anybody feels personally attacked. My goal is to encourage anybody who agrees to comment about this insidious trend at point of sale in an effort to influence the marketers and designers-- That would make me happy! The style of my rant reflects the absolute sillyness of the whole subject.

Well,you sure picked a captive audience to incite with your techno-withcraft rant....well done,now back to the news.........."Yesterday over Thailand ,3 Siamese transexuals on a Northwest flight from Burma hijacked the plane and announced they were heading to California for the ........................

It's pervasive no doubt. Look at the auto industry. The other day I listened to a piece on NPR about the high price of gas. They were profiling a family with five children living in Ohio. The father of the children drove a Ford Excursion while his wife drove a Ford Expedition. It was the marketing of the 90s that convinced people those large vehicles were "necessary." I came from a family with seven children, all born within an eleven year span, and we managed fine without these types of vehicles, ah yes, the 1963 Rambler Classic wagon.
The only solution is to not purchase the crap being pushed down our throats. A few years ago we bought a Honda CRV. There were maybe 20 of them on the lot but only two of them were two-wheel drive. We live in Indiana (flat) and don't need four-wheel drive. I bought the two-wheel drive version which gets much better gas mileage.
Unfortunately, U.S, auto makers and their customers are feeling the pain caused by this marketing strategy.