ok i got it working - I wasn't in "programmer" mode, I was in "follow the directions" mode, I dont know why the maya documentation doesn't explicitly say that you have to also have:

#pragma comment(lib,"Foundation.lib")
#pragma comment(lib,"OpenMaya.lib")
#pragma comment(lib,"OpenMayaFx.lib")
#pragma comment(lib,"Image.lib")
#pragma comment(lib,"OpenMayaAnim.lib")
#pragma comment(lib,"OpenMayaUi.lib")

and c:\program files\autodesk\maya2008\lib in your additional libraries... but its going now so phew!