Here's a closer look at the buttons on the SC. There are 6 main buttons on the top.  Beside those buttons are another two buttons which are meant for zoom functions. On the side of the SC are 3 shift buttons which allow you to shift to different sets of commands for the six top buttons.

On the base, you can find a profile switch for quick access to the three profiles which can be stored on the SC. Next to the profile switch is the REC button, which is the feature that differentiates the SC from other programmable controllers. I'll come to that in just a short while.

Like all other Microsoft game controllers, the SC also comes with software to manage the keystrokes assigned to each button. But this isn't just another game controller. This is the STRATEGIC COMMANDER! One of the features advertised on the box is the ability to record and change the keystrokes that are assigned to the buttons on-the-fly without ever leaving the game. Doing so is very easy. It goes something like this :-

1. Press the REC button at the base and it will start blinking to indicate that it is now in the record mode.
    
2. Hit the button you want to assign the keystroke to. Now, here's the cool part - you may have forgotten whether the button already has a sequence assigned to it but MS was smart enough to put lights on the buttons. So, if the button already has a keystroke assigned to it, the button lights up with an orange light. Anyway, once you press the button you want, it will start blinking as well.
    
3. Now, type whatever key sequence you want to assign to the button. I have no idea what the limit is as the documentation has no information on it. I am now typing the following line directly into the SC in hope of flooding it... Nope, it is still accepting the flood of characters so I guess you can put those complex 20+ keystrokes into it without a problem.
    
4. Press the REC button again and you're ready to use the shortcut button WITHOUT even leaving the game.

This is what sets the SC apart from other controllers, at least in the customization sense because you can do your customization without the help of any utility. But.... Yup, there's always a but, isn't there?

It appears that this feature doesn't work properly all the time! The first game I tried it on was Mechwarrior 4. I pressed the REC button... and nothing happened... Then about 20 seconds later, the REC button started blinking. But in FreeSpace 2, the on-the-fly recording feature worked without a hitch so it's game-specific and not something wrong with the device itself. It's a minor gripe but you can get over it by using the included software to program your buttons.