When Addison-Wesley asked me to write a blurb for Charlie Calvert and Dinesh Kulkarni's book Essential LINQ I was happy to do it. Although the book competes directly with my book LINQ Unleashed from Sams I know Charlie by reputation (and have spoken with him a few times). Charlie is great at explaining techniques and technologies and in his words is lucky enough to work with smart people who let him explain things. (One of those smart people being Anders Hejlsberg.)
I'd like to think that you will get your money's worth from both books and the scholarship for both books offer independent perspectives and experiences, and I'd like to thank Microsoft. While Charlie and I frequent some of the same events (TechEd and what not), Microsoft has always made inside technical people available to non-employees in an effort to help you get the best information available.
Why is LINQ relevant to DevExpress customers? The answer is that LINQ is a core technology for all programmers and there are useful benefits to LINQ for customers using our controls as well as Microsoft's standard controls.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!