(November 26, 2001) - With the Merant spinoff, DataDirect Technologies, now completed earlier this month, it will be interesting to chart its progress. DataDirect produces well-known JDBC drivers for a number of well-known databases, but what is interesting is the relationship it has forged with Microsoft. Microsoft has recently entered into a five-year licensing agreement to have DataDirect’s JDBC driver bundled with its MS-SQL Server.

On the whole this is a good thing, but you have to wonder why Microsoft has chosen now to license the driver instead of reacting much earlier to the demands of its users. It has licensed only the JDBC2.0 driver, not the more recent version – the JDBC3.0 driver. Lori Baccanari of DataDirect assures JDJ that Microsoft has been fully briefed on the JDBC3.0 driver and discussions still continue.

So what does this mean for Microsoft? Baccanari continues, “The JDBC2.0 driver gives Microsoft connectivity to WebSphere and WebLogic as well as other Java app servers.” There has obviously been some pressure put on Microsoft by its partners and major clients asking for connectivity to the more popular application servers.

This must come as a blow to Microsoft, which is busy gearing up to educate the community on its .NET strategy, pitting it squarely against the likes of J2EE and Sun ONE alternatives.

We'll watch with interest how far Microsoft will go to please its customers who have invested heavily in Java technologies.