I just have to throw my two yen in here. The original Xbox controller is utter CRAP. Microsoft should have gone with the Controller S from the beginning. Not only is it much easier to hold onto (yes I have big hands) but the button layout is much more conventional. With the original I was always hitting the wrond button, or hitting more than one at a time, because they were in that god-forsaken diamond layout, and WAY to close to each other.
Yeah, I prefer almost anything to an American XBOX controller. Hell, I prefer the normal DC controller to it. The Japanese one, or most of the third party XB controllers are much more comfortable.
I have yet to actually use a third party controller that wasn't a piece of crap. I'm not saying that the third party XBox controllers aren't comfortable (haven't used any), but from my experience, they just aren't the same quality, action-wise, and 1st party stuff.
I dunno why it is, either... maybe I'm just a 1st party whore.
Anyway, I'm surprised the US XBox controller even made it past R&D. Well, then again, we are talking about Microsoft... :P