Is VB6 dead

[akhi]

First of all " hello" !
secondly please forgive me if this post seems to be in the wrong place

I have been developing applications in vb6 for the past year,successfully and happily. (now i want to create a vb6 tutorial app.) but with vb.net onthe scene is product develpment in vb6 going to die out.
i consider vb6 to be a fast and powerful development language
MS kills the vb6 product life cycle in 2008 [thats 6 years from now}
pl advise anyone.
{question: does it still make sence to create a vb6 tutorial?}

[Frans C]

Because of the massive amount of changes from VB6 to VB7, I suspect that VB7 will be mosly used for new developments. Most existing code won't be converted to VB7.
This means that VB6 will be around for a long time.

Although support for VB6 is anounced to continue for at least 6 years, a Microsoft spokesperson I spoke said that after this period support for VB6 will be reconsidered. I guess this will depend on the amount of VB6 code that is still in use in 2008.
So possibly VB6 will be supported by Microsoft for more then 6 years.

[jhoga]

The market for VB7 tutorals, books, and trainning is massive right now. If you've got the apptitude for that kind of thing and can learn .net very quickly, you should go for it. There are already tons of resources for VB6.

[MrPolite]

Originally posted by Frans C
Although support for VB6 is anounced to continue for at least 6 years, a Microsoft spokesperson I spoke said that after this period support for VB6 will be reconsidered. I guess this will depend on the amount of VB6 code that is still in use in 2008.
So possibly VB6 will be supported by Microsoft for more then 6 years.

Umm, once on CNET I read that the support for VB6 will end in 2006. Has that changed? and plus if they still support it for a while, I've heard that vb6 doesnt do much in 64bit OSes (no clue what I'm talking about here )

[NetCoder]

I would think that your target audience for the tutorials is anyone new to VB. However, anyone new to VB will most certainly go the VB.NET route since that is the new technology. Sure, there will be some people that want to use VB6, but that will be a much smaller number.

There will be plenty of people that are happy with VB6, and want to stick with it. But they obviously already know VB6 and would not be in the market for introductory tutorials.

[Serge]

I would say that VB6 will stick around until we get 64bit processors, then little after it will be over for VB6 (my own opinion).

[The Hobo]

Maybe I need this cleared up, but I've heard that VB.Net requires huge framework files that, currently, are on only about 10% of machines world-wide. Given that this information is correct, I plan to keep using VB6 until framework becomes available in more abundance.

Just my humble, ignorant comment.

[hellswraith]

Look at windows update, they have the framework on there. This means that everyone that updates thier computers should end up getting it eventually. If a user wants to use your program, they will download it.

Think of it like Direct X, do you ever download that to play games? Once you have Direct X, all games that use it will play on your computer. Once you have the framework, all .Net apps will work on it. Try to think along those lines.

[jhoga]

If you program in a business environment, like i do then you'll find net. is much more efficent than vb6. Instead of creating deployment packages you just install the framework then email them any new exe for the programs you develop. Also there is some thing to be said for .net being cross-platform. It will be nice to be able to tell Unix users that they can run the same program as your windows users.

[ecathell]

Why not just distribute the Framework with your program?
I forget the name of the file but there is an *.exe that you can distribute with your programs, I havent figured out how to install it during my setup yet though.

[The Hobo]

Originally posted by ecathell
Why not just distribute the Framework with your program?
I forget the name of the file but there is an *.exe that you can distribute with your programs, I havent figured out how to install it during my setup yet though.

From what I'v heard it's up in the 10 to 20 megs...I don't want to distribute a 18mb setup.exe for my 500kb program...

[MrPolite]

20 MB
Who cares how big it is, it will be included with any other new OS that MS makes, like Win.NET.
It's right that it's kinda big, but you dont have to deal with a lot of other problems and dll hells and stuff and it's a more powerful environment. I think just the size of the framework isnt a very good reason not to consider .NET!!

[akhi]

Originally posted by MrPolite
20 MB
Who cares how big it is, it will be included with any other new OS that MS makes, like Win.NET.
It's right that it's kinda big, but you dont have to deal with a lot of other problems and dll hells and stuff and it's a more powerful environment. I think just the size of the framework isnt a very good reason not to consider .NET!!

It is Fair to say that the framework is going to be carried by new OSs but even then UNIX uzrs will have to Vload it. Wont they.
While the Platform may be powerfull It does make you think as to the fact that the runtimes {in this case the framework} is a required part of your app. What about the users of prior version of windows. do they not have the right to the power of .net apps