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Good day
I have a mature VB6 app which is still undergoing servicing and light development.
It installs and runs on XP/Vista/W7(32bit)/W7(64bit) machines just fine.
The question is: How much longer will MS support 32bit VB6 apps? Already 16bit apps will not run on 64bit W7 machines
Cheers
The answer is unknown, and you are living on borrowed time.
There are hints that Windows 8 will have the same VB6 runtime support as Windows 7 - but even if it does the end is getting closer by the day, and it would be shocking if VB6 apps are still working reliably in as much as 5 years time.
If there is any option I would strongly recommend rewriting the app in a language that is currently supported, because you will then get much longer (probably over 15 years) before things get to the point of being "unfixable".
Well, seeing as VB6 is about 13 years old I would recommend recreating this application plus any future applications in .NET. I don't know if Windows 8 will support VB6 or not that is why it is best to move to .NET just to be safe than sorry.
My understanding is that the VB6 runtime is basically a 32bit DLL, or am I mistaken?
Does this mean ALL 32bit DLL's will not be supported in Windows 8?
The runtime is 32 bit, but that isn't the only issue - the runtime relies on various external things (including API's) which may or may not have their compatibility broken.
I would be surprised if 32 bit DLL's in general aren't supported.
You may find this interesting: upgrade path from Windows 1.0 to Windows 7
Theoretically Windows 7 supports VB6 runtime to the end of it's life. This means some 8 years more of official support from Microsoft, but only for Windows 7 (and 2008 Server). But there is already a struggle with some VB6 features: using WebBrowser control is a risky business. IE9 RC appears to be troublesome. External components are no longer tested against VB6 as much they used to –*or atleast it seems so.
Dropping 32-bit support within the next 10 years would be a "quite insane" move.
Nothing is certain, but NT 3.1 came out in 1993 and was the first version of Windows that was 32 bit. It was quite a while before 64-bit Windows became available for desktop with a 64-bit edition of Windows XP. Windows in 64-bit editions has not become common until vendors began to push 64-bit Windows 7 preinstalled to sell more hardware. Only then was the lack of 16-bit support noticed by most consumers.
There is even a current rumor that the current version of VB.Net is the last "VB" for the .Net platform. While I think this is a complete fabrication based on a single Tweet of dubious origin it is just plausible enough to get people wondering. That's just how precarious predicting the future can be.
Beyond that you might consider the many issues raised when you run 64-bit versions of Office and IE today. 64-bit Windows is not a complete consumer operating system in many ways and will not be dropping the 32-bit WOW subsystem anytime soon. Even when Microsoft catches up with itself there are important 3rd party products that will still take years to move to 64-bits.
Unless Microsoft decides to block VB6 early, VB6 should run until 128 bit architecture replaces 64bit processing.
1985 Windows 1.0 16-bit bit
1993-1995 Windows 32-bit Win NT (3.1/4.0)
2006 64-bit Vista
regression prediction:
VB-6 moving towards obsoletion due to 128 bit architecture in 2016-2020
Actually some 64-bit server editions of Windows come with the WOW subsystem left out and you have to install the option.
There is growing doubt that desktops need a 64 bit OS and progress there still lags. There is little pressure or economic incentive for a move to 128 bits any time soon. Even Visual Studio is a 32-bit product, and will be so for some time.
Enveetee, and don't forget about the decline, it takes time and money to replace all the hardware and software with 128 bit editions.