YES...   we did spool it out to a file (XML) and without
all the tag stuff, we estimated the size properly...  as
the size estimates were taken off a row count and total
space per row...  (OK, so there is some portion of
overhead associated with the table defination as part of
the collections, that doesn't explain that much of a
delay).

We took this a little further...  and began to drop out
the uncontrolables....  like network delays... and data
access....   We simulated a DataSet/DataTable and filled
it with data like we would get from our database..  and
got similiar results.......  so now we can send this
example to anyone...  who can then replicate the situation
on their computer...

We also took this to the other end of the extreme...  and
made a SINGLE CELL TABLE..  with all the information in it
that normally would be in an entire table...   and without
ANY surprises...   it took almost NO time...  to marshal
the data back to the GUI...

So our issue appears to be...   our system is serializing
the information into ASCII vs sending it binary (in a
dataset)...

FYI....  I am very familiar with the amount of delays to
expect when designing N-Tier systems across several
boxs...  in-proc...  out-proc...  Server applications vs
libraries...  been there...  done that...

I just haven't seen this type of behaviour before...   as
the .NET stuff is totally new...  and there is some
behaviour differences that is not expected...

CODE IS AVAILABLE TO REPLICATE THIS...  ALONG WITH
INSTRUCTIONS....