Space Command SC 600-X

Bill Buxton's Notes

This remote control is from the days when television was starting to take a solid grip. It is a reminder of the importance of transaction cost. Every button on the remote was already on the TV. So why spend extra money for features that you already had? The reason is that if the new redundant approach lowers the cost differential of usage enough, they are no longer the same features. They will be used differently and change the nature of both the beast and the experience. Not only did the remote save us from getting out of our comfortable chair, it thereby resulted in a change in the very nature of television: programming, script writing, cinemaphotography, editing, and the whole economic model in terms of commercials. Not bad for a few redundant buttons!