Indeed you're right about silo :S did I just dream about it :)

But now, if you have some time, you should have a look to modo. (I know it's a bit
boring, the evaluation download require an account creation etc :S)

I'm not a technical artist, I don't get a clue about how they manage stuff like the pole transition ...
all I know is that is works really well and I never notice any problem with this method, since years of modeling.

Default navigation keys are the same as Moi, so you will quickly get use of it.

Of course I'm talking here about the rotation keys. Personally I really can't use the rotate toolbar button in Moi,
for me it's just like if I use my wrong (left) hand to move my mouse (and probably the acceleration behavior don't really
help)... I rotate the view everywhere except where I want, especially when the view is upside down.

Modo has also a rotate tool bar button, which works very well too, without any bounce, even if I'm a little bit less comfortable with.

So maybe it's just a question of taste, maybe not :)