  A critical review of hadronic tau decay data based determinations of |V_{us}|
is given, focussing on the impact of the slow convergence of the integrated D=2
OPE series for the conventional flavor-breaking sum rule determination and the
potential role of as-yet-unmeasured multiparticle contributions to the strange
spectral distribution. Additional information obtainable from analyses of
inclusive strange decay data alone, and from mixed electroproduction-tau sum
rules with much reduced OPE uncertainties, is also discussed. Self-consistency
tests are shown to favor determinations which reduce somewhat discrepancies
with 3-family unitarity expectations.
