I just wanted to ensure that you are using the correct project type here.
If you select DBMAN in the SQL tab and the default option is ADO then this is a managed code .NET project. If you were using a native project then ODBC would have been the default.
What is your desired project type and your development plans?
If you are using VC to learn the COBOL language then I would recommend that you create a native project and use ODBC.
If you wish to use the new OO syntax and create .NET applications that use Windows Forms, ASP.NET, WPF, etc then you will have to use a managed project type.
Managed projects should use ADO and not ODBC as ODBC is a native technology.
You can still use ADO with MySQL but you would have to connect via connection string instead of using a DSN created with the ADO Connection Editor.
I believe that the support for MySQL may be improved in VC 2.3 but I do not currently have MySQL installed to test this.
Thanks.