In the last week or so I found out that John Westergren (who was an Eastern Regional Sales Rep with Epson Pro Graphics for 12 years and is well connected and well liked in the graphic arts dealer channel) has resigned from Epson and has accepted a new position with Canon as the National Sales Manager. First of all, I’d like to say “Congratulations John and good luck”.  I’m all for more printer engine competition, especially now that both Canon and HP have legitimate (and in some cases superior) products that people are overlooking.  I think this move speaks volumes about Canon’s commitment to becoming more of a contender in the graphic arts dealer channel.  I deal with many of the large dealers and most of them all are still selling and promoting Epson printers - which are still great printers by the way - and I love my 7800. But once you have seen the gamut from a 12-color Canon IPF or experienced the luxury of having your Z-series HP do scheduled and fully automated recalibrations with it’s built in Eye-One you have to wonder what Epson has been doing.  I think both Canon and HP have huge pockets and great products and if Epson doesn’t really knock-it-outta-the-park with their next generation printers they risk loosing their dominance with photographers and printers. And considering that the x880 series was just introduced it will probably be a year and a half until they announce any new models - and then six months after that until they actually ship any.  Let me know what you all think about this topic.  - DG