Re: Microsoft and trust
- From: "Ralph" <nt_consulting64@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2008 08:01:30 -0500
"Phill W." <p-.-a-.-w-a-r-d-@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:fsg5c7$seq$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Bill McCarthy wrote:
"Ken Halter" <Ken_Halter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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Obviously not, or there'd be a VB7...
There is a VB7... It was released back in late 2001/early 2002
(Oh what the Heck; it's a slow day ...)
Back in the Good Old Days when we were all using VB 5, Our Friends in
Redmond released a new version - VB 6. "Hooray!" we all cheered,
gleefully installed it and opened up all of our old Projects in the new
and improved IDE - and carried on working as if /nothing/ had happened,
apart from a few bug fixes and an extra line in our Project files).
Then, in 2002, we were handed "Visual Basic 7.0", an "all-grown-up",
fully object-oriented, managed-code-supported language. Just /try/
doing the same "open the project and carry on working" upgrade from VB 6
to "Visual Basic 7". It /just doesn't work/ even for the most trivial
of applications. Even on those rare occasions when "Upgrade Wizard"
does actually produce some code that /compiles/, it runs at snails' pace
(even /more/ so than usual), because the Wizard's had to shoe-horn the
way we /used/ to do things into 'Visual Basic's Brave New World[.Net].
"Visual Basic" is a /new/ language, derived as was VB "Proper" before
it, from BASIC and reusing many (but not all) of the keywords seen
previously in VB "Proper". Microsoft could (and, IMHO, /should/) have
written a new compiler for VB 7 taking existing VB syntax and generating
CLR-compliant, I.L.Code. It would, perhaps, perform poorly when
compared to scratch-written code, but it would still be a no-brainer to
upgrade to the new platform, rather than the massive investment now
required to effectively rewrite everything.
But they didn't.
Instead, they handed us a whole new product, with /no/ viable upgrade
path for our existing software portfolio.
The runtime is still supported, some 10 years after VB6 shipped, and the
IDE finishes extended support end of this month. I wouldn't call that
tossing into the recycle bin. The fact you are *still* using VB6 clearly
indicates that isn't the case.
Finding operating systems on which VB "Proper" applications will run
[reliably] is /going/ to become increasingly difficult. I would suggest
it unlikely that they will run well on 64-bit Windows systems (being
downgraded to run in a W32-on-W64 "subsystem") and, as VB "Proper"
passes ever further from their minds, there is the increasing risk of
Our Friends in Redmond releasing a Security Patch, Hot fix or other
offering that undermines some part of our existing applications.
You can't just "upgrade" and recompile however-many years of VB
"Proper"-written, corporate resources overnight. If Visual Basic 7.0
had /really/ been VB 7 then we /could/ have done and the last seven
years would have suffered far less grumbling from the Great Mass of the
Abandoned (including me).
Regards,
Phill W.
"Bill McCarthy" is well-aware of this. He is only amusing himself, likely
with one hand on the keyboard and the other in his lap.
Best to not feed the trolls.
-ralph
.
- References:
- Microsoft and trust
- From: Michael C
- Re: Microsoft and trust
- From: Bruce W. Roeser
- Re: Microsoft and trust
- From: Ken Halter
- Re: Microsoft and trust
- From: Bill McCarthy
- Re: Microsoft and trust
- From: Phill W.
- Microsoft and trust
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