As I understood Gates today, that is all going to change in the next version of
SharePoint. In the
next version, SQL
Server will "understand" SharePoint Lists and it will be possible to
create a List that will, in effect, create a native table in the SQL Server database.
Furthermore, because it is native, this will allow developers to make use of the
more robust features of the DBMS and will eliminate the current performance
issues with SharePoint Lists that have over 2000 rows.