Hallo,
I have been using both the MySql ODBC Driver and the MySqlDriverCS (on the mysql.com site, native .net driver writen in C#) for connecting to my MySql db.
I have found using the MySQLDriverCS works alot beter than the MySQL ODBC Driver, and this purely for speed. My tables contain more than 2 million records each and the the speeds is just alot beter connecting to the DB not via ODBC. Then memory usage using ODBC is alot more, and on Win98 system this caused some problems, and even on 2k/XP.
On the other hand the only way to get Crystal Reports to connect with the DB is with MySQL ODBC so for that you wil still need that. So my forms are filled using the MySQLDriverCS and reports use ODBC.
J.