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Interfacing from Python to the ODBC world

M.-A. Lemburg mal at lemburg.com
Wed Jul 7 04:38:41 EDT 1999 
Hi everybody,

as you might know, I am the maintainer of mxODBC, a Python C
extension capable of interfacing from Python to most ODBC drivers
and managers in a Python DB-API standard way:

	http://starship.skyport.net/~lemburg/mxODBC.html

Since mxODBC has been around for quite some time now, I would like
to start a small feedback query to find out about your experiences
with it and the setups you use it in. I intend to use this feedback
to promote the use of Python to do database interfacing and to
direct development into new directions.

Some questions:

1. Since when do you use mxODBC ?

2. In what setups does mxODBC work in your company, e.g. which
   databases do you interface to and on which platforms ?

3. If you have previously used the Win32 odbc module, have you had
   any significant troubles switching from the Win32 module to the
   mxODBC package ?

4. Did you know that mxODBC can help you interface to Oracle,
   MS Access, MS SQL Server, Solid, MySQL, Informix ?

5. Did you know that mxODBC provides access to iODBC, the Unix
   ODBC manager, and unixODBC, a new ODBC manager with GUI ?

6. Did you know that I am offering commercial support for
   mxODBC ?

7. Are you satisfied with the documentation ?

8. How troublesome do you find setting up mxODBC, i.e. adjusting
   paths and linking against the target ODBC libs ?

9. Which features would you like to see in future version ?

10. Would you be willing to pay for early release versions ?

The last question is of special importance to me, because the
mxODBC development and support is becoming a pretty time
consuming task. Keeping the package in sync with all the great
ODBC software out there takes many hours of downloading,
installing and testing the various setups.

That's why I plan to distribute future versions in two phases:
Only registered users get access to the latest version,
while all others can freely download the previous versions.
If this setup proves to be a success, I see a long future for
the mxODBC package.

Thanks for your time.

Cheers,
-- 
Marc-Andre Lemburg
______________________________________________________________________
Y2000:                                                   177 days left
Business:                                      http://www.lemburg.com/
Python Pages:                           http://www.lemburg.com/python/
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