The rest of the database vendors seem to be quite happy with ODBC, so it is not exactly dead technology. To some degree, it is available on Linux and Unix platforms so tomorrow you could keep your data on these servers too.

FYI ODBC is FAR from dead technology! It is not, and never has been, anything to do with Microsoft and they most certainly do not control it (which is why they want everyone to use OLEDB - which IS theirs and which they DO control).

ODBC is a set of open standards which define the interfaces and commands that a Relational Database Driver must expose. It has nothing to do with platform and therefore your statement that it is
>> To some degree, it is available on Linux and Unix platforms
is incorrect. Since ODBC drivers are related only to the database to which they provide connectivity, the platform is involved only indirectly - if the database runs on Linux, then the ODBC driver for that database will work on Linux.

This is the complete opposite of OLEDB which ONLY runs on Windows platforms, and can connect only to databases that operate under windows. (The so called OLEDB Providers for things like Oracle that run on non-windows pplatforms are actually only COM Wrappers around an ODBC connection).

As long as relational databases use SQL and run on different operating systems, ODBC will be required. Of course, Microsoft want the whole world to use SQL Server under Windows at which point ODBC WILL be no longer needed but until that day comes ODBC will remain the premier means of connecting disparate databases.

Regards
Andy Kramek
Microsoft MVP (Visual FoxPro)
Tightline Computers Inc, Akron Ohio, USA