Converting nearly every type to another type in .NET
“.NET does not provide a generic way for conversions across all types. Even the base types are not handled the same way. And not all possible conversions across the base types are supported. We had a look at the different techniques and ended up with the UniversalTypeConverter as a generic solution filling the gaps and with some useful options on top.
Maybe, it is a historical thing that TypeConverter is not used on all types. But this is definitely the way to go if you want to provide your own types being convertible.”
Source: Universal Type Converter – CodeProject
Lars Fosdal 