Not sure whether this has already been discussed (or makes sense).

There are some standard SQL operations that don't correspond to an already-existing .NET method; the example that comes to mind is LIKE. It seems that up to now, each provider invented its own way to allow users to specify these in LINQ to Entities - SqlClient has SqlFunctions and SqlMethods.

It seems to makes sense to pull the standard SQL functions and methods out of these SQL Server-specific classes and place them in the generic EF7 code, this way the same LINQ can be used across different providers...