What is the difference between LINQ to Entities and the Entity Framework?

Question

Simple question: What is the difference between LINQ to Entities and the Entity Framework? Up till now I thought that both were different names to describe the same thing, but I'm starting to get the feeling that it's not

Answer 1

I guess that Linq To Entities would be the particular subset of Linq that is implemented by the Entity Framework.

The Entity Framework covers all of the entity stuff such as:

• Entity Designer
• ESQL
• L2E
• Etc...

Answer 2

The entity framework is an ORM. Linq to Entities adds LINQ support for the entity framework. So, AFAIK its a nice-to-have if you're using the entity framework.