I'm only speaking from my own perspective - if I were to make a wish-list of features in ADO.NET, auto-spanning would be way down on my list. 4.5 years of working with .NET, and I have yet to encounter that need.That's because you do everything in SP. It's a circular argument.
Nice talking to you, and thanks for the food for thought about SP.
It's 4am EST, good night!
"... 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