There were some talks given at YAPC::EU on this subject and related matters. I point you to davorg's slides What's wrong with ORM, which I think should really have been titled "What's wrong with Class::DBI" as DBIC has fixed many of these issues.
In another talk, Matt Trout explained the positive vibes in the community which have made DBIC a success, and exceeded his initial ambitions.
I'm using CDBI for some database application stuff (not web stuff). Although it's slower than raw DBI SQL, this is to be expected. The main problem I have is that I had to modify CDBI to get it to work with Sybase mixed case columns; I submitted a patch to Tony Bowden, but this patch has not been accepted. I'm currently reviewing DBIC with a view to migrating.
--
Oh Lord, won’t you burn me a Knoppix CD ?
My friends all rate Windows, I must disagree.
Your powers of persuasion will set them all free,
So oh Lord, won’t you burn me a Knoppix CD ?
(Missquoting Janis Joplin)