Agreed. However, you haven't mentioned the BEST "feature" of Austin. We have an absolutely unique freakin jungle within 6 miles of downtown called "Greenbelt" w

Agreed. However, you haven't mentioned the BEST "feature" of Austin. We have an absolutely unique freakin jungle within 6 miles of downtown called "Greenbelt" where you can do all kinds of crazy things on your mountain bike, or swim with your dog in one of those natural pools or just walk for miles. Also you can rent a boat and have fun on lake Travis, where my favorite thing to do (although dangerous) is to jump off the rocks. Those things are why Austin is 1st or 2nd fittest city in the nation and this is why I don't want to move to the Valley. We have lots of "Valley refugees" here, who moved because of cost of living and "lack of culture". However, if "good hacker community", and especially start-up community, is priority #1, I'd stay around SF Bay Area. Austin has only one traditional "software VC" and they're not nearly as open minded and progressive as numerous VCs in the Valley.