ODBC stands for Open Database Connectivity, a Microsoft product based upon X/Open's CLI (Call Level Interface). ODBC is essentially a standard Application Programming Interface that allows applications to interact with databases without any vendor-specific coding. Like printing, the Customer traditionally completes the connection between the application and the database by installing a driver on each of their computers.

The ODBC Control Panel is where the Customer maintains their list of data sources using ODBC drivers much as they might administer printing destinations with printer drivers. Like printer drivers, ODBC drivers typically implement their own "setup dialog" that is called by the ODBC Control Panel to maintain driver data source parameters. The Customer's list of data source names, corresponding ODBC drivers and any parameters are all managed exclusively by the ODBC Control Panel.

Database applications normally link to a shared-library (DLL) called an ODBC Driver Manager (DM) that implements the generic ODBC API. But the DM itself generally does not actually process the requests. Instead, the DM passes each API call through to a specific vendor's ODBC driver that is contained in another shared-library. The DM knows which ODBC driver to pass the application's database calls thru to by having first intercepted the initial "Data Source Connect" call and having looked-up the requested data source in the list maintained by the Customer with their ODBC Control Panel. ODBC drivers themselves actually process the application's database API call, though they may callback into the ODBC Configuration Manager (part of the ODBC Control Panel) when they need to store or retrieve parameters.

Apple originally produced an ODBC Control Panel and an ODBC Driver Manager for Macintosh that Microsoft supported in its Office product. In 1995, Apple relinquished these components to VISIGENIC, but Microsoft continued to support the original Apple components. VISIGENIC later dropped the product and Microsoft contracted with INTERSOLV for ODBC support in Office98. INTERSOLV later merged with MicroFocus (PC COBOL) to become MERANT and went on to independently develop retail versions of Macintosh ODBC that do not behave like the version shipped with Office98. Microsoft did not initially include such versions with Office2001 until April 2002. MERANT later sold-off their ODBC products and Microsoft stopped bundling ODBC components with Office.X, convincing Apple to again bundle an ODBC Control Panel and an ODBC Driver Manager for Macintosh starting in Mac OS X 10.2 ("Jaguar") and 10.3 ("Panther").

Meanwhile, the challenges that Mac developers face in determining which versions of whose ODBC components are present on any given customer's system are hardly worth the effort when, in any case, there are only four or five ODBC drivers available for Macintosh. To address this issue, AUGSOFT now provides a free ODBCSDK that enables Mac and UNIX access to Windows-hosted ODBC drivers without third-party ODBC Driver Managers, Control Panels or other components of any kind.