Let's ask MS to make VB6 open source!

[esposito]

I can't see MS releasing B6 as OpenSource. For one thing, MS guard their intellectual property with more spit than Cerberus. But also, MS don't want you to continue writing in VB6. They want you to switch to one flavour or another of .Net. Should MS be worried that there are people still using our VB6 forum? Yes. When nobodies using it they'll be happy because it will indicate that those who remain addicted to VB6 having finally kicked their habits.

Why are they supporting the Mono project, then? Aren't they afraid of the fact that people may switch from Windows to Linux?

Eposito, the argument you give for sticking with VB6 (you want to run from a pen drive) is valid... for you. But the point I think you're missing is that you represent a tiny minority. For the vast majority of us VB.Net is more suitable.

You are obviously right: in this forum most developers have already switched to .NET. I have one question, though: is there any reason why a developer who produces desktop (non-Web based) software should prefer .NET to another programming language that can do the same job without needing the Framework?

The vast bulk of people who are still using VB6 are doing so, not because of a genuine technological reason, but rather due to inertia. They've got apps that are already in VB6 that they don't want to port. They've got developers who are trained in VB6 who'd need to be retrained.

There are also a lot of people who decide not to switch to .NET because they don't want their software to depend on a huge virtual machine.

Given that MS would really like to get all those developers onto .Net, why would they release 6 as open source? Sure, they might please you and a very few others who have a genuine reason not to use .Net but they lose the opportunity to prod the foot draggers forward. In the end they just deem that, from a business point of view, you're not important enough to matter.

Abandoning customers for purely commercial reasons can backfire: the first thing I did when I realised that MS had discontinued VB6 was look for an alternative language that was not produced by them. In short, I didn't (and I still don't) feel like investing in a development tool that, in the future, MS may abandon again. So, MS have lost a customer and found someone who will give testimony of the way in which he was left stranded. Other software houses may decide as well to discontinue one of their products or they may even go bankrupt. Nevertheless, the difference is that, when it happens, they normally sell their product to another software house and, by doing so, they show more respect for their customers. This happened to Borland that decided to stop producing Delphi and sell it to Embarcadero.

Also, I looked at your site. It looked fine to me but there's all this strange alien writing all over it. which I couldn't understand I panicked, got scared and closed it down.

Thank you for having found my Web site fine. It is designed for a kind of user that is not exactly a computer wizard. Basically, I produce accounting and data management software for an Italian fairly aged public. By the way, the strange alien writing which scared you is called Italian.