oracle jdbc driver version vs database version

I always thought that, for avoiding communication problems, the Oracle JDBC Driver version should match the Oracle Database version (at least the first 2 digits).

Then I encountered this assertion:

<<<
Another very important conclusion: the versions of the Oracle JDBC driver and the Oracle database are not tied together. Oracle JDBC Driver 10gR2 can be used with any supported database version so there is no good reason for not using the latest version of the JDBC drivers, even for organisations working with 8i or 9i databases .
>>>

(source: http://technology.amis.nl/blog/?p=1385)

Can you confirm this?

-- 
CdL