shadows

Age old question, what is the best way to do shadows? Depth texture shadows sound appealing to me, because I won't have to generate any extra geometry for it, theoretically making it simpler to implement. On the other hand, it is not very clear to me how to cast shadows from multiple light sources, and if the shadow casted area is essentially a rectangular frustum. Whereas, using the stencil buffer to implement shadows shouldn't have to worry about rendering artifact, and point lights are easier to implement, geometry has to be generated, and I also hear this involves "math". Also, doesn't someone have a software patent on stencil buffer shadows (eg, John Carmack had to pay someone liscensing fees for using "Carmack's Reverse" in doom 3?). Where does that fall into the scope of things? I've been pondering this for a while; all things seem pretty equal. What is your favorite shadowing method, and why?