Rick, I agree with your comments about CRUD.
FWIW, efficiency hasn't been a concern in CRUD for quite some time. Numerous developers use Stored Procedures without change tracking, passing every field every time. It's easy to rear back in horror at that, but pragmatically it's clearly "good enough" and therefore justifiable in an age with cheap hardware and expensive labor. On that basis, Linq to SQL clearly has a lot to offer, especially if it keeps up with featuresets for multiple databases.
I also agree on the tier issue. My understanding is that MS is doing something about it.
It will be very interesting to see what happens with Linq to SQL.
"... 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
