Re: VB6, VB2005, or Something Else?


"Anthony" <Anthony@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:47D55D9C-1F71-4F4B-823C-7B9F0E3D7248@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I am hoping this is a subject suitable for this newsgroup, since I know it
can be a sensitive one. Hoping to avoid namecalling here, I have a
question
which I could really use some opinions on.

I work for a a small software company. Our entire application suite is
written in Visual Studio 6 (primarily VB6). We looked at VB.NET when it
came
out, but decided against it because (1) our code wouldn't convert, (2) the
framework seemed overly large for shareware downloads, (3) anyone that
wanted
to could decompile our code, and (4) the final application seemed very
sluggish (slow) compared to a vb6 app. Seemed to us the .NET framework was
great for corporations, but not so great for small companies selling
software.

Now VB 2005 is out, we have looked at it, and it has some nice new stuff,
but still suffers from the same items above.

We now know that Vista will support VB6 apps (good news of course). This
buys us 6 or so years to start a long-term migration to another coding
platform. Our dilema is whether or not we should keep coding in VB6 from
this
point foreward. We wonder if Microsoft will somehow purposely kill the
functionality of the VB6 runtime in the os after Vista. Should we hold out
hope that some company will save the day and revive VB6? What is their
history of supporting the VB 1,2,3,4 and 5 runtimes?

If we SHOULD NOT continue with VB6, should we consider moving to VB 2005?
I
personally hesitate to move there based on the issues above. What else is
a
viable option? C++? Java? Delphi? It would take us 2 years to just get our
apps into a new system (and thats just maintaining what they already do -
not
really upgrading any functionality - essentially 2 years to get back to
square one). If we are going to make a move, I don't want to EVER have to
do
this again. I hesitate to go to a microsoft platform in fear they will
pull
the rug like they did with VB6.

Anybody facing the same dilema? Any food for thought?

Thanks -


[What follows is just a rehash of what others have said better, and what you
likely already know... <g>]

While I am pissed at MS for what they have done to VB and COM in general.
And what they have done to everyone's code resources. And that they provide
no serious upgrade path. And now daily have to confront all the problems
with .Net you mentioned. (And they are NOT trivial concerns - they are very
real and very expensive dollar and cent issues.)

There is only one fact and one decision to make.

Microsoft has literally "bet the farm" on .Net. There is no going back. The
Framework is the future of MS and its platforms - it is the "WinAPI" of the
future. Moving to any other development platform merely forestalls the
inevitable. If you intend to support future MS platforms then you will be
doing it with .Net.

Its a b*tch that MS that MS is a @#%1&@ - but it is and they are - and here
we are. Their way or highway.

If you chose to remain with MS = It becomes the classic Fram Oil Filter
quandary - "Pay me now, or pay me later". With the obvious answer - buy in
now, buy in quickly, and buy in completely. Don't look back.

Or seek, not another tool, but another operating system.

-ralph




.

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