<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> <HTML ><HEAD ><TITLE >Advocacy</TITLE ><META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.79"><LINK REL="HOME" TITLE="FreeTDS User Guide" HREF="index.htm"><LINK REL="UP" TITLE="Helping" HREF="contrib.htm"><LINK REL="PREVIOUS" TITLE="Helping" HREF="contrib.htm"><LINK REL="NEXT" TITLE="Programming" HREF="programming.htm"><LINK REL="STYLESHEET" TYPE="text/css" HREF="userguide.css"></HEAD ><BODY CLASS="SECT1" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#840084" ALINK="#0000FF" ><DIV CLASS="NAVHEADER" ><TABLE SUMMARY="Header navigation table" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TH COLSPAN="3" ALIGN="center" ><SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >FreeTDS</SPAN > User Guide: A Guide to Installing, Configuring, and Running <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >FreeTDS</SPAN ></TH ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="bottom" ><A HREF="contrib.htm" ACCESSKEY="P" >Prev</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="80%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="bottom" >Chapter 10. Helping</TD ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="bottom" ><A HREF="programming.htm" ACCESSKEY="N" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ></TABLE ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"></DIV ><DIV CLASS="SECT1" ><H1 CLASS="SECT1" ><A NAME="ADVOCACY" >Advocacy</A ></H1 ><P >Out of ten people you know, it's a fair bet 10 never heard of <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >FreeTDS</SPAN > and nine don't understand the problem it solves. Lots of places have begun to use Microsoft <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >SQL Server</SPAN >s in all sorts of ways, and if you adhere to the Microsoft line, there's only one way to connect to them: from a Microsoft OS. </P ><P >What can <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >FreeTDS</SPAN > do that can't be done any other way? Glad you asked. <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >FreeTDS</SPAN > can </P ><P ></P ><UL ><LI ><P >Connect to every version of either vendor's server, using the same binaries.</P ></LI ><LI ><P >Provide a <SPAN CLASS="SYSTEMITEM" >ct-lib</SPAN > interface to Microsoft <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >SQL Server</SPAN >. This feature alone allows <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >DBD::Sybase</SPAN > and <B CLASS="COMMAND" >sqsh</B >, among others, to connect to Microsoft's product. </P ></LI ><LI ><P >Provide a bcp-capable interface and command-line utility on unix-like operating systems for Microsoft <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >SQL Server</SPAN >.</P ></LI ><LI ><P >Run on many more operating systems than either vendor's libraries do.</P ></LI ><LI ><P >Get fixed, instead of telling you to get stuffed.</P ></LI ><LI ><P >Amuse and inform. Also frustrate and infuriate, but we don't put that under <SPAN CLASS="QUOTE" >"Advocacy"</SPAN >. </P ></LI ></UL ><P >If more people knew, fewer would be stuck. </P ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="NAVFOOTER" ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"><TABLE SUMMARY="Footer navigation table" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="contrib.htm" ACCESSKEY="P" >Prev</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="index.htm" ACCESSKEY="H" >Home</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="programming.htm" ACCESSKEY="N" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" >Helping</TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="contrib.htm" ACCESSKEY="U" >Up</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" >Programming</TD ></TR ></TABLE ></DIV ></BODY ></HTML >