Visual LINQ Builder... really?

Is it me or is does this Visual LINQ builder seem like *two* very large steps backwards. The first thing that turns me off is the tool. The second thing is LINQ itself.

Firstly, instead of encouraging developers to actually learn SQL or the LINQ dialect of SQL to perform queries, this looks like yet another hand-holding tool that people who use crutches (e.g. Visual Studio) would take advantage of instead of really learning and understanding the tools they have before them.

Secondly, I'm still unconvinced by this whole LINQ thing, as it doesn't seem to solve any other problem except trying make writing SQL or, in this case, a SQL-like syntax in code much more easier. Perhaps I just don't grok it. Since I don't use Microsoft development tools at all, I'm not one to sip on the kool-aid of Anders Hejlsberg - thus I don't have any real incentive to grok it either. LINQ seems to be useful for simple hand written DAO's, but isn't that why we have object relational mappers for relational databases these days? What will end up happening with LINQ is really a continuation and further propagation of a mess of SQL dialect embedded inside business logic, which is precisely the thing that should be avoided in any well designed and decoupled database driven application.