Microsoft Remains Firm On Ending VB6 Support 796
An anonymous reader submits "CNet reports that
Microsoft is remaining firm an ending support for VB6, despite a petition
and many requests from its developer community.
If only VB were a F/OSS project instead of a proprietary customers could be assured of continued support as long as there was demand.
Are there any good F/OSS implementations of VB out there for customers to migrate to? One can only hope that enlightened groups like
the Agility Alliance would warn about the risks of using such software that can be end-of-lifed even while they're in heavy use."
ABOUT DAMN TIME (Score:4, Funny)
Good Implementations of VB??? (Score:4, Funny)
Why use VB6 when you can use... QBASIC!! (Score:5, Funny)
oh GOD NO!!!!!!! (Score:4, Funny)
oh NO!!. DON'T GIVE THEM ANY IDEAS!!!!
Re:Good Implementations of VB??? (Score:1, Funny)
Microsoft, while you're at it..... (Score:3, Funny)
Gentlemen, (Score:5, Funny)
not to continue using C for serious programming projects. As I will
explain, I feel that C needs to be retired, much the same way that
Fortran, Cobol and Perl have been. Furthermore, allow me to be so bold
as to suggest a superior replacement to this outdated language.
To give you a little background on this subject, I was recently asked
to develop a client/server project on a Unix platform for a Fortune
500 company. While I've never coded in C before I have coded in VB for
fifteen years, and in Java for over ten, I was stunned to see how
poorly C fared compared to these two, more low-level languages.
C's biggest difficulty, as we all know, is the fact that it is by far
one of the slowest languages in existance, especially when compared to
more modern languages such as Java and C#. Although the reasons for
this are varied, the main reasons seems to be the way C requires a
programmer to laboriously work with chunks of memory.
Requiring a programmer to manipulate blocks of memory is a tedious way
to program. This was satisfactory back in the early days of coding,
but then again, so were punchcards. By using what are called
"pointers" a C programmer is basically requiring the computer to do
three sets of work rather than one. The first time requires the
computer to duplicate whatever is stored in the memory space "pointed
to" by the pointer. The second time requires it to perform the needed
operation on this space. Finally the computer must delete the
duplicate set and set the values of the original accordingly.
Clearly this is a horrendous use of resources and the chief reason why
C is so slow. When one looks at a more modern (and a more serious)
programming language like Java, C# or - even better - Visual Basic
that lacks such archaic coding styles, one will also note a serious
speed increase over C.
So what does this mean for the programming community? I think clearly
that C needs to be abandonded. There are two candidates that would be
a suitable replacement for it. Those are Java and Visual Basic.
Having programmed in both for many years, I believe that VB has the
edge. Not only is it slightly faster than Java its also much easier to
code in. I found C to be confusing, frightening and intimidating with
its non-GUI-based coding style. Furthermore, I like to see the source
code of the projects I work with. Java's source seems to be under the
monopolistic thumb of Sun much the way that GCC is obscured from us by
the marketing people at the FSF. Microsoft's "shared source" under
which Visual Basic is released definately seems to be the most fair
and reasonable of all the licenses in existance, with none of the
harsh restrictions of the BSD license. It also lacks the GPLs
requirement that anything coded with its tools becomes property of the
FSF.
I hope to see a switch from C to VB very soon. I've already spoken
with various luminaries in the C coding world and most are eager to
begin to transition. Having just gotten off the phone with Mr. Alan
Cox, I can say that he is quite thrilled with the speed increases that
will occur when the Linux kernel is completely rewritten in Visual
Basic. Richard Stallman plans to support this, and hopes that the
great Swede himself, Linux Torvaldis, won't object to renaming Linux
to VB/Linux. Although not a C coder himself, I'm told that Slashdot's
very own Admiral Taco will support this on his web site. Finally,
Dennis Ritchie is excited about the switch!
Thank you for your time. Happy coding.
Hey, you insensitive clods!... (Score:4, Funny)
.
More likely (Score:2, Funny)
More like customers would have never gotten any support (outside of newsgroup posts saying RTFM when there is no FM) in the first place.
Re:Good Implementations of VB??? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Good Implementations of VB??? (Score:5, Funny)
sweet (Score:1, Funny)
"OH, you want to be a programmer? I hear that there are lots of VB jobs! even though I am a useless toolbox that doesn't know anything about anything, I plan to give you advice anyway"
I will find them and and sing my new song:
you said I should
learn about VB
that it would help
find jobs for me
but I said I wouldn't
stoop so LOWWW
I TOLD YOU SO
I TOLD YOU SO
I TOLD YOU SO
Re:Mod me down if you must, but I prefer Visual Ba (Score:4, Funny)
4. Men tip their hats when they see you on the street. Women curtsie politely. You are recognized as a software engineer and respected as such.
5. You get a "free ice cream" card when you go to Baskin Robbins. Every 6 hole punches on the card gets you a free icecream cone of two scoops!
6. Barbers give you a shave and a haircut for only one bit instead of two.
Re:Mod me down if you must, but I prefer Visual Ba (Score:3, Funny)
So, I gather you don't use a compiler?
So What? (Score:5, Funny)
Gee, upgrading is easy! (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Mod me down if you must, but I prefer Visual Ba (Score:2, Funny)
Who's its Daddy?
Re:Good Implementations of VB??? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Gentlemen, (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Why use VB6 when you can use... QBASIC!! (Score:5, Funny)
Me from 1992, is that you?
Re:Mod me down if you must, but I prefer Visual Ba (Score:1, Funny)
Re:ABOUT DAMN TIME (Score:5, Funny)
I really fail to see the problem here (Score:2, Funny)
B. Microsoft not supporting VB is like saying "don't do drugs". VB is the crack-cocaine of software engineering. True, it will give you a quick fix, but if you use it continually, you are screwed.
Re:The moral of the story (Score:2, Funny)
Re:VB is where I started. (Score:1, Funny)
I'd say you're still starting.
How about this one? (Score:1, Funny)
Microsoft != F/OSS
therefore,
F/OSS == Unshaven smelly unwashed hippies
Well, that just proves what we already knew
Re:Meet the expert. (Score:2, Funny)