Cisco has been around for so long...
Cisco is not focused on one thing such as routing or switching..
But networking in general is their entire concern.
They have been buying out companys and taking their technologies.
Cisco has always been a big part in new/upcoming networking technologies (Currently Docsis 3.0)
Juniper is somewhat taking the core routing aspect, but many people respect cisco for the reputation they have had..
That they will not switch over..
Juniper Junkie, I somewhat understand partially what you are saying.
Currently I am studying from the Sybex JNCIA book and it seems to much more interesting to me then any of my current cisco books.
Just because of the way the Juniper platform lays itself out in the book.