I've been using Rational products since 98. At this time, it was a great innovative company, the fact that UML inventors were working for them was probably a determining strength... Anyway, i start to feel a switch in 2002/2003, when products such as MagicDraw started to get real attention.

The iniatial Eclipse-based release of Rose was 'Rationnal XDE' and was absolutely a regression in terms of ergonomy & behavior. More recent releases have proven to be far more stable, (but i'm still looking for a SODA-like plugin) and those times i'm definitely in favor of MagicDraw

Rational ain't what it used to be, the Websphere suite of products is just bloated with marketing