DBMS ODBC Special Report, April 1996
Imagine what telephone service would be like if the phone company had to physically connect my phone to yours? In the early days of client/server, front-end tool vendors had to decide which DBMS servers their products would support. Accessing another DBM S meant writing to its native driver, so the list of servers supported by a front-end tool often grew one at a time. Before evaluating other features, developers first had to ask if a front-end tool supported a back-end DBMS. It didnýt matter how good a tool was if it didnýt talk to your chosen DBMS.
Today, we hardly ever worry about what tool talks to what DBMS. Middleware solves the problem of heterogeneous data access, and Microsoft's ODBC is perhaps the most ubiquitous form of middleware, at least on the desktop. Most Microsoft initiatives swiftl y gain wide support, but they still take time to mature. Many Microsoft products did not fully gel until version 3 arrived. Wonder of wonders, ODBC 3.0 is right on the horizon.
This new version is merely one major development propelling ODBC into an even greater role. You can now use ODBC on multiple platforms, including Unix, OS/2, and Macintosh. ODBC driver architectures are growing up as more vendors migrate driver functions from desktop clients to centralized servers. Large companies such as Xerox are building enterprise-scale projects using ODBC. And Web browsers are even getting into the act as ODBC connects data sources to the Internet.
This special supplement surveys these and other developments in ODBC. Stay tuned, because future issues of DBMS will explore even newer developments as ODBC adapts to a world dominated by component technology.
