>>in the last five years, how many Code Camp events, how many SQL Saturday events, SharePoint Saturday events, and CodeStock events have you attended?
>>Same question for JR, since I'm sure he's reading this.

Thousands. I regularly cross the ditch to attend tech events all over the USA and then skip back down under in time for tea.

Ask a silly question, get a silly answer. ;-)

In any case, perhaps you've heard of the old aphorism "not only must Justice be done; it must also be seen to be done?" Also the older and slightly different meaning for "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" = "Who will guard the guards themselves?" Professions and academia rely on institutions and fiercely guarded peer supervision of standards of propriety such that the mere appearance of bias in leaders and decisionmakers ought to be a scandal. Which is why corruption and tyranny seeks to undermine the institutions. That's my point. You can quote as many examples of selfless conduct as you like, but the mere impression or credibility of bias should cast a greater shadow than it does in IT. There is individual protest as you've heard from others, but there's also a lot of celebration and kudos attached to being given a pat on the head by a vendor. A cynic might say that these pats on the head are a remarkably cheap way for a vendor to create a churn of blogs, presentations and good news with attributes of rolling thunder and independence- but actually all under vendor control if the pat on the head is something people work towards and then are reluctant to give up.