Well if the cat doesn't have a local database engine, it is inferior.Are you paraphrasing Anders H there (you know, NET creator-guru-on-pedestal) or somebody else? It's not an issue of inferior or superior. It's an issue of getting jobs done. Back in 2004 I laid out in some detail the sort of task that works better with large reused indexed local cursors compared to SPs or datasets. Rage ensued. Why? Is it attacking a Porsche 911 to say it's better to use a Mac Truck to transport a load of wood? Horses for Courses.
"... 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
