The point of SNAPSHOT ISOLATION is to, essentially, implement optimistic concurrency in a transparent fashion. The fact the the OP recommends using lock manipu

The point of SNAPSHOT ISOLATION is to, essentially, implement optimistic concurrency in a transparent fashion. The fact the the OP recommends using lock manipulation, shows that he's already ceded the point about SNAPSHOT ISOLATION. That is, the whole point of supporting SI is to avoid lock twiddling and the associated complexity and overhead. It's pretty clear that the OP is missing aphyr's point entirely.