I've heard some people bash Sony before, but I've had no problems with my Sony point and shoot, and I think the lense quality is actually a little higher.
I also liked the compact size of some of the Cannon's, and they had some pretty good quality too.
One thing to keep in mind is the memory media.  Make sure that is a format you can tolerate (some Sony's can't use the MemoryStickPro, some use the small compact flash cards, limited to 256 I think, etc, I think you see my point).
Something to keep in mind when you go shopping is look at optical zoom stats.  Digital zoom is crap basically and will cause you to lose quality.  The better the optical zoom the happier you'll be (if you are shooting zoomed in shots).  Also, see if you can take a few shots, most digital point and shoots have pretty bad shutter lag (time from pressing the button to when the picture is actually taken, so make sure you're happy with it.
life is too short to have any regrets