Denis,
>>I wonder when the first final version will be released?
If it is anything like Java we are currently at the Beans stage with 2.0 yet to come.
re ADO.NET: it is worth spending a few minutes reviewing it. Check out
http://authors.aspalliance.com/aspxtreme/adonet/adonetprimer.aspx ...don't get bogged down in the classes and nomenclature, just focus on the code samples. Most VFP people who have dabbled with views and ODBC will recognise a lot of it immediately- filters and cursors are replaced by classes in dotNET. You may not remember it all immediately, and you may find it more unwieldy than a simple cursor that can do all the same stuff, but it isn't rocket science.
Regards
j.R
"... 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