The appeal of an ORM has never been about abstracting away the writing of queries...almost every developer I've met is comfortable writing SQL queries. But the

The appeal of an ORM has never been about abstracting away the writing of queries...almost every developer I've met is comfortable writing SQL queries. But the appeal of an ORM framework is in not having to write the code that maps the results of the sql query to/from the properties of an object. When you combine the annoyance of writing and maintaining that type of code with the realization that the majority of queries you end up making are one of the CRUD operations and you it completely explains the popularity of ORM frameworks. It's about not having to constantly write code that could just as easily be written by a CS 1 student. ORM systems almost universally suck, but so does the alternative.