shared_ptr - implicit conversion to bool

Hi, I've found this in "shared_ptr.hpp": // implicit conversion to "bool" typedef T * (this_type::*unspecified_bool_type)() const; operator unspecified_bool_type() const // never throws { return px == 0? 0: &this_type::get; } Why this is better than: operator bool() const { return px != 0; } What more can I do with somethin like this? Thank you, Wasek