ADO is Micro$oft's strategic database interface.

It isn't going away, and if you are a Windows victim user, it's a good way of getting at data. There are two ways to get at it using Python - either directly via COM, or via OPAL's Python DB-API 2.0 driver. The first way is more flexible, the second is code compatible with other DB-API 2.0 drivers. Take your pick!