How do I do that in ArcGIS/Manifold – remember this one?

Some lively discussion about Manifold.net was spawned recently over at Spatially Adjusted (nice job throwing the bait out there and getting this going James!) The discussion made me think about a paper that was published a couple of years ago comparing how to accomplish tasks using Manifold.net (5) as compared to the same task done using ArcGIS. Would it be amazing to see such a publication that compares several applications??? Obviously a HUGE task but maybe there’s a few keeners out there that have a few hundred hours to killl.. if so you’d have a best-seller on your hands! Here’s some details about the publication I reference… “How do I do that in ArcGIS/Manifold” – Edited by Arthur Lembo Jr. Cornell university, the document steps through 50 “classic” GIS tasks and compares the process in Manifold side-by-side with the same process in ArcGIS… this document is a must read for anyone shopping for a low-cost GIS solution – this comes from a Spotlight feature at GU – see http://www.gisuser.com/content/view/3006/ – oh, and those of you who haven’t already done so, the saga continues still over at Spatially Adjusted in this very heated discussion thread… ouch!!