OLE DB is part of the Microsoft Data Access Components stack and is the database access interface technology. MDAC is a group of Microsoft technologies that interact together as a framework that allows programmers a uniform and comprehensive way of developing applications for accessing almost any data store. OLE DB providers can be created to access such simple data stores as a text file or Spreadsheet , through to such complex databases as Oracle and SQL Server . However, because different data store technology can have different capabilities, OLE DB providers may not implement every possible interface available to OLE DB. The capabilities that are available are implemented through the use of COM objects - an OLE DB provider will map the data store technologies functionality to a particular COM interface. Microsoft calls the availability of an interface to be "provider-specific" as it may not be applicable depending on the database technology involved. Additionally, however, providers may also augment the capabilities of a data store - these capabilities are known as ''services'' in Microsoft parlance.
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