I am looking for practical advice from VB developers about whether VB6 or .NET would be the “best” choice to use for a project...

I have both “Visual Studio 6 Pro” and “Visual Studio .NET 2003 Pro” available. I am an expert/certified Lotus Notes/Domino Developer, but I have not worked with VB for the past 6-7 years (since VB4). Since I will have to work thru a learning curve for either version, I’d like to focus my time and effort on the most appropriate solution. (Note: This is being done as a “freebie” for a non-profit organization, so purchasing additional software and/or 3rd party add-ons or installers is not an option.)

The following is a high-level summary of the main features/issues of the application that I have been asked to build:
  • The program will record and compute the scoring and awards during competitions. The data will be written to a back-end database. (The program itself can use any DB format/connection – as long as it is compatible with and/or can be formatted for import into Access. When the data file is returned to HQ after the competition it will be managed in Access.)
  • Many of the users will be “technically challenged”, so the program must have a very user-friendly interface for both the installation and data entry: competition and judges information, the entrant information, and individual scores (10-12 per entrant). The program will also need to provide the following on-screen and printed reports: 1> Individual entrant summaries (one entrant per page), 2> a spreadsheet style listing of all entries (with each of the individual scores, total, and awards), and 3> the final results for the awards presentation (sorted by class, then by place – with the total scores and awards).
  • This must be a stand-alone Windows app – it will be distributed (via CD), and installed locally on the users’ PCs. I expect that most users will be running a current version of Windows (XP or 2000) -- but the program needs to be compatible with older versions (95/98/ME) as well. The users will not have an Internet connection available when the program is being used -- and they may not have a connection when they are installing the app.

From what I’ve read, my inclination is that .NET would probably provide more options and flexibility for the application -- but I’m very concerned about the issues with deployment of the .NET framework...

Any advice, suggestions, and/or warnings/”gotchas” would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Wendy