how to synchronize SQL Server databases with dataset.merge?

Hi,

I have several different users in remote locations
(highlands of Papua New Guinea, for instance), each with
their own instance of my app and SQL Server database
(MSDE) running on their laptops. They will need to share
some data, so my plan had been:
1. user A exports his data (my app does a
dataset.writexml)
2. user A burns a CD with the result of his export and
gives it to user B
3. user B imports user A's data. My app tries to
accomplish this by a dataset.readxml of user A's data,
then merging the dataset representing user A's data into
a dataset representing user B's database, then calling
row.update for each row in each table.

However, it seems the dataset.merge does not change the
rowstatus. For instance, if user A and B both have the
same row (with status = Unchanged), when user B is
importing user A's data, the merge leaves the rowstatus
Unchanged, even though the row was updated with user A's
data.

I suspect I'm doing something wrong, or maybe I'm taking
an entirely wrong approach. Any ideas or direction to
look in researching a solution would be appreciated!

Thanks,
David