I currently own both Epson (1280, 1800, 2400 and soon 4800) and Canon (S9000, i9100, i9900) printers and I believe most sum it up correctly, the Canons are speed demons and the newer Epsons are better for longetivity. I do have a lot of family / friends tell me that the photos I gave them from my Epson 1280 have faded (all types of Epson paper) which correlates with my experience, some have lasted a few years while others have faded within a few months. All of my Canon prints fade, however it's not a concern because we give them to our customers just to show them what their projects will look like. The Canon prints do look great in the beginning, also the Canon printers are substantially faster then the Epsons, so it makes them great for a business application. All of the photographers that I know use Epson printers and I believe it's because of Epson's ability to create archival prints as well as the quality of the print (being better or equal to Canon / HP). When I started I used all HP, but then they fell off of the radar, now they are back, but I believe they are still behind Epson and Canon.
PS, One last item I would like to address. The Canon glossy prints are "glossier" then the Epson prints, but I believe only when viewed side by side.