Seems like people are reaching the heart of the matter while I was showing off at a congress. Not surprisingly my shared neurons got to note down most of my sentiments on the matter...

Making room for my typical difference in style I'ld like to answer the remaining question: "How to discriminate between smart and 'average' ?" (That average word really stinks btw)

See, at this conference there were 30% less attendants then last year... And looking into the list the conclusion was that the large consulting firms and integrators were the ones absent. Contrarily to Werners believe this obviously show "they already know everything" :-) Their customers that did show up (and are outsmarting them fast) told me that they are getting free consultants nowadays: 2 for the price of 1 since it costs more to need to invent some sensible research topic for the other one they couldn't sell.

Just maybe: Being smart == daring to share and see your opinions challenged. (I would NOT take being able to install / run / extend oss project xyz as the true smartness-qualifier).  Remember perception is reality? The smart guy closed up in his room, is not bound to make a difference in anyones perception. See, OSS is just about showing off :-)