Hiya John ---

>My choice of tool is not governed by whether a session is at TechEd or not. Rather, I let the technical merits of the tool drive the decision. To do anything else, makes one a Gartner Group Drone...

Hmmm...but a client expects to see a commitment from the vendor for a tool, especially a commitment from the vendor that the tool is superior or even adequate for the type of project that he is about to approve.

As to Gartner, I work with and against them frequently. They have their techno-ducks lined up pretty well most the time IMHO.