I guess this is as good a place to put my first post as any.

I started programming in 1988 while attending the local community college. Anyone from that time knows there was no Windows, few hard drive, and lots of IBM PC's. I took to it really quick. I guess it was because it was something totally new, different, and had a capability of creating something unique.

The transition from DOS based programming to Windows based was not without issues. It seemed I spent more time designing forms than I did writing code. I managed to learn it all on my own.

It's been over 20 years now since I started. I find myself stuck mostly from changing technology. I still use Visual Basic 6, like many others, from what I've seen here. It's 11 years old. Yet, there has been no decent replacement, in my opinion.

I bought VB.Net 2002 and was totally disappointed. It was just junk to me. I looked again in 2005 and it was a bit better. VB Express 2008 is not bad, except for one thing: Framework. It robbed VB of the ability to make anything that resembled a "stand-alone" program. Yes, it was there in 2002, but I didn't understand the implications at the time.

I guess I stick with Microsoft because it's all I've known since college. I stick with VB 6 because the main run-time, MSVBM60.DLL, has been a part of the Windows OS since 1998. I can't speak for Vista or 7. It wouldn't surprise me if it's missing there. If one does not use any extra controls, then that one run-time is all that is required.

My main issue with Framework is writing a simple little piece of code which would require another used to have install a lot of other modules, megabytes worth, in order to run it. I can't see doing that, so I stick with what I have.

Framework needs to be scrapped, I feel. There was something a while back in the rumor-mill that spoke of VS 2010 not using it, but that turned out to be just a rumor. It will still be there, based on what I read at MSDN.

So, that's it. I plan on doing some reading here to see what others are working on. Perhaps I may put in a word or two from time-to-time.