I would argue that the technology in even the best remotes out there today is pretty stagnant. We've had the same issues for years... yet the manufacturers fail to address the issues.

How long have we been coming up with ways to deal with non-discrete on/off codes, and track which units are on and off. With the ability to define a variable that is set, and then make decisions based on the variable, this wouldn't require going through an extra "Is the TV On?" kind of screen on the programmable remote.