"Is it possible just once to have a thread without some disgruntled 997 or Boxster owner trying to justify his purchase and spouting the same old rubbish about the Cayman when it's totally unrelated to the topic the original poster started?"

I have to chuckle about the conservatism of the 997 owners (perhaps unsurprising with a 40 year old architecture that nobody else has stuck with) - and at times the Boxster owners too - they all seem afraid that the Cayman could somehow be "better" (whatever that might mean) than the cars they own.
As I see it (and of course I could be wrong) the Cayman is the beginning of the future. I really do think that the next 911 will be mid-engined and that the rear-engined 911, as much as we love it, (and I have a 997 myself) is due to become history in the next 3/4/5 years. I suspect that the 997 will linger on for a year or two after its successor is launched (just like the 356 did) but by 2009 or so the "engine hanging out behind the rear axle" concept will be gone, for ever. Amen.
And, as development cycles evolve the next Boxster will indeed become a Cayman convertible instead of caman being a Boxster Coupe.
We have seen the future - and it is configured just like a Cayman.
I also anticipate that the mid-engined 998 when launched in 2008 will have a difficult time at first with the same kind of "traditional" debate as we are seeing today with the Cayman.
But, whereas the 911 is an unparalleled triumph of development over conservative design, ultimately the new will replace the old.
Enjoy!