>>So many people here seem to think that there is no other product on the face of the earth that can do data. And that is simply not true.
There is no basis for your provocative "straw man" assertion. Lets stick to the facts:
1) MS says that getting autospanning local datasets into dotNET is a priority.
2) MS is promoting LINQ to provide improvements to dotNET's data handling.
IMHO MS is taking a constructive approach and is trying to address real concerns.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1