In this interview made during QCon SF 2008, Erik Meijer talks about less known LINQ features, like the ability to do meta programming or the fact that LINQ works against any data collection that implements the sequence operators. Meijer also talks about the differences between functional languages and objectual ones, asynchronous computation, and the evolution of languages.
Watch: Erik Meijer on LINQ (58 min.)
Meijer covers many topics from a look to the impact LINQ has had over the short time since its release to the future of programming as foreseen in parallel and asynchronous programming. He thinks that LINQ has not had a full impact yet because it is mostly perceived as a way to access a database without considering its meta programming capabilities and the fact that one can work basically with any type collections.
Miejer talks a lot about functional programming and objectual one, highlighting the benefits brought by both and the need for constant evolution. He shows how languages can borrow from one another resulting in improvements on both sides.
On the topic of asynchronous and parallel computation, Meijer thinks that we have just scratched the surface and there is no clear solution right now. They involve a fundamentally different approach to programming, and while a few steps have been made in the right direction, more are to be made.