>>>Wow, now that's the first time I've heard this point of view. It seems most
>>>everyone has been preaching about the benefits of the deleted tag for quite a
>>>while. . . -Rick
>>Including myself. :-) Live and learn....
>Would this be as a result of the general movement towards more SQL compliance?
>I've been surprised as well but from that pov it seems to make some sense.

No, I think it's just that people assumed that "optimization" meant "speed". Then, people actually started checking the numbers....