(If I'm overlooking anything, please let me know.)

First, my only concern is updating single records in a Detailsview using an
ObjectDataSource.  The target table has a timestamp field.  Assume  a  single
primary key.  

Create your xsd.  Drag the table onto the xsd.  Then manually edit the
Update statement to simplify it.  Essentially 'Update <table> set blah = blah
Where (PK=@PK) and (ts=@ts)'.  (Get rid of all that auto-generated 'original'
stuff.  Also those IsNulls.  They don't seem to serve any purpose except to
confuse. Don't use the Optimistic Concurrency option in the wizard.)

Get the record into the detailsview any way you see fit.  I generally use
the first select statement to populate a grid and then call the detailsview
through a hyperlink.  Then I create a 2nd select by PK.

Bind your detailsview.  Here's the critical step.  Add the timestamp field
to the DataKeyNames property of the detailsview (since the timestamp datatype
can't be passed any other way apparently.)

Next, add the following code to the Object Data Source Updating event
handler:         e.InputParameters.Item("ts") = DetailsView1.DataKey.Item(1)

That's it.  The only other thing you really have to do is check the
e.ReturnValue in the Object Data Source Updated.  1 is success, 0 is failure.
(For some reason the AffectedRows parameter is always returning -1)

Apparently if you use this sort of method, you are responsible for reporting
success or failure on the webpage.  (Actually I was expecting a crash when I
tried to update an already updated record, but so much the better.)

One last question:  Why have I not seen this in any tutorial?