Update on LINQ to SQL and LINQ to Entities Roadmap

Since the release of LINQ to SQL and the Entity Framework, many questions have been raised about the future plans for the technologies and how they will relate to each other long term.
During this week of PDC we are now at a point, with the announcement of Visual Studio 10 and the .NET Framework 4.0, that we can provide more clarity on our direction.

We have seen great momentum with LINQ in the last year. In .NET Framework 3.5 we released several LINQ providers, including LINQ to SQL which set the bar for a great programming model with LINQ over relational databases. In .NET 3.5 SP1, we followed up that investment with the Entity Framework enabling developers to build more advanced scenarios and to use LINQ against any database including SQL Server, Oracle, DB2, MySQL, etc.

We’re making significant investments in the Entity Framework such that as of .NET 4.0 the Entity Framework will be our recommended data access solution for LINQ to relational scenarios. We are listening to customers regarding LINQ to SQL and will continue to evolve the product based on feedback we receive from the community as well.

Tim Mallalieu
Program Manager, LINQ to SQL and Entity Framework