Praise Be! Microsoft does hear us! ... Maybe.
The protests against the gradual erosion of support for VB 6 at Microsoft might, just might, have been a small part of why Microsoft has suddenly decided to create a whole new Visual Basic 6 support site.
Note --- I wrote the article "Visual Basic 6 Programmers Are Revolting!" about the eruption of protest against Microsoft's decision to drop some of their VB 6 support. ---
Yes, that's NEW - SUPPORT - VB 6. Words that previously didn't seem to fit in the same sentence at Microsoft.
The new site is called VBRun and the subtitle is "The Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Resource Center". Sounds pretty straight! Support from the source! What could be better?
Well ... for starters, it would be better if Microsoft would change their marketing policy and make it possible for people to actually buy VB 6 again. Or (Do I dare suggest it?) upgrade VB 6 and keep it fresh and current. A quick check of major software sites doesn't uncover ANY that actually offer VB 6 for sale. When you can find it at all, it's at third tier retail or auction sites and it will cost you many times the price of a copy of VB.NET. (See my article Get VB.NET (still) Cheap! for information about how to get VB.NET AND a great book for less than $100.) And it's the same VB 6 that was last upgraded in the previous century!
It's like they used to say in the Watergate scandal: If you want the truth, follow the money. The truth is that Microsoft STILL doesn't want to make it easy to work in VB 6. They do seem to understand that a lot of VB 6 developers - the largest base of software developers in the world - are melting away and a lot of them are not choosing VB.NET. And this is leading to an understanding by Microsoft that something has to be done to appeal to all these formerly loyal VB 6 customers - like the new VBRun site, for example. But they don't seem willing to do the "FoxPro thing" - that is, actually make it possible for these developers to continue to use their chosen technology by upgrading the product, and making it possible to buy it.
But new VB 6 support is still something worth checking out. Let's see what Microsoft has for us at their new site.
Jay Roxe, Microsoft Visual Basic Product Manager, tells us in the introduction that the new site, "has three pretty distinct parts:"
- Greatest Hits is a collection of some of the best Visual Basic 6.0 content in the MSDN Library.
- VB Fusion provides some specific examples of using Visual Basic 6 and Visual Basic .NET together.
- Stay the Path provides information and free training for Visual Basic 6 developers who are looking to explore Visual Basic .NET
So ... we get a new index to old stuff. (MSDN works great, Jay. I can find the old stuff you have that way right now.) And we get two sections dedicated to gently moving us back toward VB.NET. Gee Thanks, Jay!
But check out the review of all three parts of VBRun on the next page!
