In an earlier blog entry I shared the PowerPoint slides I created for a local user group talk I gave back in October on the Microsoft Data Access Application Block (DAAB). From Microsoft's site, they provide an MSI download for Version 1.0 and 2.0 of the DAAB. Unfortunately, both of these versions were built to work only with Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 and up (due to the fact that it interally uses the SqlClient data provider).
Over at GotDotNet, a group of developers has been building Version 3 of the DAAB. Version 3 uses an abstract data provider pattern so that the DAAB can work with any database that has a provider created for it. Using Version 3 you can just as easily tap into an Access or Oracle database as you can tap into a SQL Server database.
I decided to update the DAAB presentation I gave earlier, since I'll be giving a similar talk to another group in a couple of weeks. Anywho, if you're interested, here's the updated talk, covering version 3.0. (The talk isn't designed to be a deep examination of the technical underpinnings of the DAAB. Rather, it's short and sweet, giving the audience an overview of the DAAB, instructions on how to start using it, and example syntax. The overall talk was created to be a bit over 30 minutes, but you could probably read through it in 5 to 10 minutes.)
Enjoy!