Lesson 6, Is support for ODBC being discontinued by Microsoft.

Question

A. No, Some people like to peddle misinformation without knowing the facts. ODBC is a standard for most back end databases and has been around for a very long time. It is NOT going away anytime soon.

theLizard · Answer

Tell me Sam what does " deprecation "? This is what " Sustained Engineering " means Sustained engineering takes over support of a Windows version on the date the code is "golden," or released to manufacturing. On that date, the source code is effectively split into three parts: the gold code goes to manufacturing and is archived, sustained engineering begins on the released version (Version n in the chart), and development begins on the next version (Version n+1). Windows Sustained Engineering (WSE) is already supporting the previous version (Version n-1). When a customer reports a problem via Product Support Services or a vulnerability is reported through the Security Response Center, WSE helps triage the problem and then develops and tests the appropriate hotfix, security patch, or update for release via Windows Update and inclusion in the next service pack for that version. WSE must also ensure that any change to the code to fix the problem or vulnerability is incorporated in the next version and, if appropriate, in the next service pack for the previous version. What popular demand Sam? ODBC is here for a long time to come, MDAC was supposed to be a replacement but it has been replaced and the last release of MDAC was in 2005 See MSDASQL. Quote, " The Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC (MSDASQL) is a technology that allows applications that are built on OLEDB and ADO (which uses OLEDB internally ) to access data sources through an ODBC driver. MSDASQL is an OLEDB provider that connects to ODBC , instead of a database. MSDASQL ships with the Windows operating system, and Windows Server 2008 & Windows Vista SP1 are the first Windows releases to include a 64-bit version of the technology . " Microsoft may want to discontinue odbc, but itis NOT Microsofts call. STOP you misleading rubbish.

Sam Hobbs · Answer

Do you not understand " deprecation "? I am not sure I understand what " sustained engineering " means but I think it means that there will not be any more improvements. Due to popular demand, Microsoft reversed that somewhat, but they obviously want to discontinue support of ODBC, where support would be improvemets, fixes and compatibility with future software.

theLizard · Answer

Yes so what, where does it say Microsoft is not goimg to support odbc.

Sam Hobbs · Answer

Please see CSS SQL Server Engineers : How to get a x64 version of Jet? which says that Jet has " entered a state of functional deprecation and sustained engineering ". There is more there that you should read. I have found however Data : 64-bit OLEDB Provider for ODBC (MSDASQL) Is Now Available For Windows Server 2003 and I found Download details: Access Database Engine 2010 Beta . I assume that the 2010 Beta version is the latest.