Anytime this gets brought up (and it does, time and time again), before we argue further, I /really/ recommend reading;

http://www.sqlteam.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6136&whichpage=2

and quazibubble's posts. Yes he's argumentative, but puts up an impressive reasoning.

Worked with a few people over the years who've tried todo weird and wacky stuff, get them spending 30mins going through that thread before arguing further and it's saved many a future project. (course, contractors who won't be around when there's later changes to the project love this stuff, but anyone having to maintain/expand systems are /really/ urged to read that link, and keep reading until it sinks in).