ADODB in PHP vs. ADO in Windows
ADOdb is a Database Abstraction Library for PHP (and Python). Although it's based on the same concept as Microsoft's ActiveX Data Objects (ADO), it's not the same thing!
The common concept, in a nutshell: a Database Abstraction Library (ADOdb in this case) provides a layer between a programming language and a database, which allows a developer to write programs which access data without needing to know specific details about a particular database implementation.