So, just curious if there's a large crowd going towards 6500 "native" mode (using Supervisor IOS instead of CatOS "hybrid" dual-headed monster).

Probably not because of POS modules lack of support in Supervisor IOS. People doing DFC and SLB are required to run Supervisor IOS; people that doesn't like the vlan/port metaphor tend to run Sup IOS.

I've heard of a few enterprise- and metro-area networks migrating from a 7500+GSR platform to 6500's, but none are running 6500 native mode.

Seems like native mode is pretty new, maybe 18 months old now. Not many IOS versions to choose from, but plenty of bug-fix releases (5 since Aug '01). Curious whether anyone

The Sup-IOS releases are usually paired with CatOS or MSFC IOS upgrades, correcting similar bugs and adding similar funcionality. Very few bugs were SupIOS-related, as far as can I tell from the release notes (which doesn't always include all that have changed).

is testing or operational with it, and what your experience has been.

Most of the times we hit a CatOS bug we also tried the current SupIOS release on lab, and the same bug was also present... it would probably make no difference to run either of them, unless you use something exclusive to SupIOS that would have its own bugs. Rubens Kuhl Jr.