Feeding pets people food... is it good or bad?

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I am an absolute animal lover. I have a dog, Zena, who is a yellow lab who will be 11 years old in February, and a cat, Buffy who will be approximately 13 or 14 this year. I care about my animals a great deal and would not do anything to harm them. Both my cat and my dog eat only pet food. My dog Zena is also a registered working dog and so had restrictions on her diet because of her job. People tend to frown on a dog stealing a steak from their plate on the way by while we're in a restaurant. So for that reason Zena has never been given people food. I have never given my cat human food either because I always thought they were healthier on thier own food. Until recently, I thought this was also a general consensus among veterinarians. It seems that just as there has been a push toward natural health products for us, ther too has been a push towards better nutrition for our pets. As such it seems that even veterinarians are unable to agree. In essence I guess there are basically three types of food for your animal, the dry traditional dog/cat food, wet food and now a suggestion that a diet similar to a humans, either cooked or raw may be better as it is made with fresh ingredients. Once you decide, on either dry, wet, or cook your own. There are so many options available, particularly if you're thinking of using either create packaged dried food or canned wet food. So what is your opinion? Do you feed your pets a strict diet of animal food or do you allow them people food as well? Do you buy a wet or dry food or a combination of both? If you use dry food do you have a preference for a certain price range? For example, low end, low cost store brand vs. high end veterinary exclusives? For me personally I made the choice of dry made priced as they seemed too have lese "filler" and so my animals eat less, and as an extra bonus "poop" less as well because of better nutrient quality and less bulk for me to get rid of later? What do you feed your pets?