Yes, it is very easy to interact with databases from Python. There are libraries available for all of the popular DB engines, as well as great database abstract

Yes, it is very easy to interact with databases from Python. There are libraries available for all of the popular DB engines, as well as great database abstraction layers like http://www.sqlalchemy.org/ http://www.sqlalchemy.org/ Depending on how much of a non-programmer you are, it might be worth investing the time learning to write a basic script which interacts with a database. Writing this in both Python and VB.net should demonstrate that the task is simple enough in either language. If you manage to convince him that Python can access DBs as simply as VB.net, I suspect he will come up with yet another reason why he prefers VB - in my experience, people always shift the goalposts in situations like this. Once you have answered about ten of these 'objections', he will probably put his foot down and say 'Well, I still say we use VB.net, and I am the teacher, so deal with it".