>>>>>
>>>>>Hi Antonio,
>>>>>
>>>>>PMFJI. I have a couple of questions, please. Currently on my computer I have only the legacy (original) SQL Server ODBC driver. Which works with varchar(max) (which is very important for me) and does not work with the new Date type (which is not important to me). So far, my customers use the correct ODBC driver, so I have no problem.
>>>>>
>>>>>If a customer upgrades their system or changes their ODBC driver to the, for example, SQL Server Native Client 10.0, which with VFP 9 does not support varchar(max), my app will fails (big problem!!!). In this case, what are my options:
>>>>>1. Can a customer install the legacy ODBC driver even though they have a new driver?
>>>>>or
>>>>>2. Will Devart driver work with the VFP 9 application allowing the app continue using the varchar(max) columns?
>>>>>
>>>>>Thank you.
>>>>
>>>>Dmitry,
>>>>
>>>>1. You can have different versions and generations of drivers installed side by side (in fact, they don't know about each other, just like they don't know about other installed drivers that connect to other (R)DBMS or to SQL Server).
>>>>
>>>>The SQL Server driver is part of Windows Data Access Components and continues to be distributed with new OS. The idea is to guarantee backward compatibility with legacy or legacy-like applications, like ours. It would be a really strange situation if the driver got lost.
>>>>
>>>>2. Yes, but of course you can/should try for yourself. The output for the Devart ODBC driver test (remember, this is just the reading operation) can be seen in the attached picture.
>>>
>>>Antonio,
>>>Thank you for your reply. On 1. this is great that the legacy ODBC will continue being installed. On 2. I don't have the Devant driver and will need to buy it to test. I will Google for the URL but if you know where it is being sold, please let me know.
>>>
>>>Thank you.
>>
>>
>>Beware, old legacy ODBC driver wouldn't work all the time.
>
>When you are saying "all the time", what specifically do you mean? That after a certain number of years it will stop working or something else?

No, we have experienced situations where an old driver (SQL Server 2000, 2005 , 2008 ...) wouldn't install and run successfully at a customer. Experienced connection errors and some of them only worked with the latest driver. If you would support your customers, why it wouldn't install and work then fine. We couldn't, having too many customers to give support like that which was a waste of time.