Quote Originally Posted by tr333
what part of the .NET framework requires purchasing?
the framework is free to download, and there are free IDE's that work just as well as VS (if not better).
I don't use/know .Net, however this may be interesting.

From the link above I arrived at this page where a number of benchmark tests for VB6 and .Net are discussed. I'd like to quote these words from it:

"The average of three test runs on my computer resulted in the conclusion that, at least in this particular test, VB 6 is 83 percent faster than VB.NET. Not too bad!"
"I have to conclude, however, with a lesson that has come hard to someone who learned programming when every millisecond counted. The lesson:

Milliseconds actually don't count much anymore.

Computers are so fast and cheap these days that, in spite of what Jeff might feel, the most important factors are the costs of programming and the ability of the language to do the tricks that today's applications need. Factoring those things in makes VB.NET a clear, hands down winner!"