>3) Mirroring does not meet the needs, among other things, because it is not recommended for commercial use (i.e. it is not ready??).

Mirroring was not recommended for the release version of SQL 2005, but it was after service pack 1. See the following for confirmation...

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sql/2005/dbmirfaq.mspx