Non-SQL*net api solution?

Are there any api products out there that allow clients to interact with an Oracle server on a Unix box without the use of SQL*Net. What about Oracle OCI? The solution I'm looking for will allow client programmers to code their data requests (perhaps in C or C++) in a generic database-independent way using an api-interface that will do the conversions, row-fetching, column delimiting, sqlca capture, etc that ODBC or OO40 or Oracle*Glue would do along with SQL*NET? I do not mind any level of complication on the server side.
Basically, I don't want to have to install SQL*NET and ORACLE's TCP/IP adapter on the client. Given a pc, a wire and TCP/IP what is the (additional) minimum I need to have and do to talk to my Solaris Oracle7?
Thanks
Jay Ramadorai
Software Builders
103422,1467_at_CompuServe.com

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Jay Ramadorai
Software Builders
103422.1467_at_CompuServe.com