> The other problem is, you have to specify table and column names in queries (duh, how else), but that means the entire persistence model is hard coded and need manual tweaking and so on. In an ideal universe, each field would be generic, each object generic and each collection of objects generic and all functions being generic.

Yeah, define the database in a database. And then define the database for the definition of the database in a database.

If you'd like to deliver a product that does something, you've got to stop adding abstraction layers at some point.