diff --git a/lib/puppet/resource/reference.rb b/lib/puppet/resource/reference.rb
index 750c10e41..968274523 100644
--- a/lib/puppet/resource/reference.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet/resource/reference.rb
@@ -1,104 +1,102 @@
 #
 #  Created by Luke Kanies on 2007-11-28.
 #  Copyright (c) 2007. All rights reserved.
 
 require 'puppet'
 require 'puppet/resource'
 
 # A simple class to canonize how we refer to and retrieve
 # resources.
 class Puppet::Resource::Reference
     attr_reader :type
     attr_accessor :title, :catalog
 
-    def ==(ref)
-        return false unless ref.is_a?(Puppet::Resource::Reference)
-        return true if ref.type == self.type and ref.title == self.title
-        return false
+    def ==(other)
+        other.respond_to?(:title) and self.type == other.type and self.title == other.title
     end
 
     def builtin_type?
         builtin_type ? true : false
     end
 
     def initialize(argtype, argtitle = nil)
         if argtitle.nil?
             if argtype.is_a?(Puppet::Type)
                 self.title = argtype.title
                 self.type = argtype.class.name
             else
                 self.title = argtype
                 if self.title == argtype
                     raise ArgumentError, "No title provided and title '%s' is not a valid resource reference" % argtype.inspect
                 end
             end
         else
             # This will set @type if it looks like a resource reference.
             self.title = argtitle
 
             # Don't override whatever was done by setting the title.
             self.type ||= argtype
         end
         
         @builtin_type = nil
     end
 
     # Find our resource.
     def resolve
         return catalog.resource(to_s) if catalog
         return nil
     end
 
     # If the title has square brackets, treat it like a reference and
     # set things appropriately; else, just set it.
     def title=(value)
         if value =~ /^([^\[\]]+)\[(.+)\]$/
             self.type = $1
             @title = $2
         else
             @title = value
         end
     end
 
     # Canonize the type so we know it's always consistent.
     def type=(value)
         if value.nil? or value.to_s.downcase == "component"
             @type = "Class"
         else
             # LAK:NOTE See http://snurl.com/21zf8  [groups_google_com] 
             x = @type = value.to_s.split("::").collect { |s| s.capitalize }.join("::")
         end
     end
 
     # Convert to the reference format that TransObject uses.  Yay backward
     # compatibility.
     def to_trans_ref
         # We have to return different cases to provide backward compatibility
         # from 0.24.x to 0.23.x.
         if builtin_type?
             return [type.to_s.downcase, title.to_s]
         else
             return [type.to_s, title.to_s]
         end
     end
 
     # Convert to the standard way of referring to resources.
     def to_s
         "%s[%s]" % [@type, @title]
     end
 
     private
 
     def builtin_type
         if @builtin_type.nil?
             if @type =~ /::/
                 @builtin_type = false
             elsif klass = Puppet::Type.type(@type.to_s.downcase)
                 @builtin_type = true
             else
                 @builtin_type = false
             end
         end
         @builtin_type
     end
 end