"why on earth have they REMOVED functionality from some of the controls... but then you realise that they havent removed it, they just havent had time to include it in the WPF implementation of said control"

That's the dirty little secret of WPF that 1) Isn't brought out into the open much (since MS is trying to get it adopted....) 2) When people venture into WPF (and this includes me) don't realize that the controls have to be completely re-engineered for WPF....

-tg