Open Database Access and ODBC (4)

The Future of ODBC

Though its name begins with open, implying that it is not tied to a single vendor or even to a subset of RDBMS vendors, ODBC is controlled by a single vendor - Microsoft. Microsoft defines the specification of the API and supplies the basic driver manager software used on Microsoft operating systems. This control has some good aspects and some bad for the future of ODBC.

The Good (Moves towards Openness)

Microsoft has made reasonable, useful extensions to the original SQL Access Group, SAG, definitions in creating ODBC. Later releases have refined those extensions. Microsoft has committed to bringing Version 3.0 and future versions of ODBC more in line with SAG's specifications and with existing standards.

The Bad (Sidetracking the Openness)

On the negative side, Microsoft is too often using ODBC as a tool of their overall marketing campaign. Starting with Version 2.0 of ODBC, they have controlled and restricted distribution and have changed the specification for the sole purpose of furthering the goals of Microsoft. These actions have certainly severely injured the openness of ODBC.

One of the attacks that MS has made on ODBC is with the OLE DB initiative. This is discussed in the next section.

Other actions by Microsoft injurious to ODBC are:

Updating Cursors. ANSI SQL and most RDBMSs support cursors and provide for updates and deletes of the current row in a cursor. This is known as UPDATE and DELETE WHERE CURRENT OF CURSOR. It is not supported by either Microsoft RDBMSs - Access or SQL Server. In ODBC 2.0, Microsoft introduced a complicated, non-standard mechanism to cater to their engines. At the same time, they moved CURRENT OF CURSOR to Extension Level 2, indicating a less common or important feature.
16-Bit Support. In ODBC 2.5, Microsoft removed support for 16-bit drivers for their operating systems. Starting with ODBC 2.5, only the 32-bit Driver Manager will be distributed for Windows 95 and NT. This has the effect for freezing all 16-bit drivers at ODBC 2.1 with no future enhancements or bug fixes. Applications developers wishing to maintain common 16/32 bit versions will face real difficulties
Price Controls. Since ODBC 2.0, Microsoft has exercised control over ODBC driver developers by forcing them to pay for the ODBC SDK. The ODBC SDK is available from Microsoft as part of a general yearly subscription package. The price is significant and is expected to rise in the future. This is not an open system.

OLE DB

In a major strike against ODBC, Microsoft is touting their OLE DB facility as a replacement for ODBC. OLE DB could be viewed as an object layer placed on top of ODBC, but Microsoft is likely to provide direct OLE DB drivers for their database products and to de-emphasize and perhaps discontinue ODBC drivers for their products. OLE DB is not open nor portable except between Microsoft OSs, which will become only a single OS - NT, in the next few years.

Because of Microsoft's total control of the specification and arbitrary complexities in the facility, OLE DB will not be supported by other Operating Systems - OS/2, MAC OS and various flavors of UNIX. ODBC, and Embedded SQL to a lesser degree, will remain as the only open and portable interfaces for SQL accessable databases. Unfortunately, the fate of ODBC is completely under the control of Microsoft.

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