The adoption rate for .NET technologies, released more than 2 years ago, continues to lag behind Microsoft's expectations. The set of .NET-based development tools that Microsoft launched in February 2002 included an IDE, the ASP.NET Web-development platform, and the new C# and Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET) languages. Microsoft designed Visual Studio .NET to counter Java as the premier Web-development environment, and considering the .NET products' strengths in developing Web applications, it's no surprise that most adopters have been Web developers. However, the biggest base of Microsoft developers isn't made up of Web developers; it consists of the 8 million Visual Basic (VB) 6.0 developers who haven't migrated to Visual Studio .NET in the numbers Microsoft hoped for.

Whether ardent .NET supporters want to face it or not, VB 6.0 has some advantages over VB.NET. VB 6.0 is simpler than VB.NET, so the hurdles to getting started and being productive with the language are low. VB 6.0's runtime requirements are featherweight compared to the more than 20MB .NET Framework, not to mention that the .NET IDE requires some real horsepower. Trying to run the IDE on anything less than an 800MHz system with 512MB of RAM isn't a great experience. In addition, the VB 6.0 environment is mature. VB 6.0 programs are reasonably robust, and a strong market still exists for third-party controls.

VB 6.0 may claim a handful of advantages over VB.NET, but VB.NET's benefits are too plentiful to list in a short column. VB-.NET provides full-blown object-oriented capabilities and an extensive set of .NET classes. In short, despite having a familiar syntax, VB.NET is a new language. And the extensive nature of the changes between VB 6.0 and VB.NET is one of the biggest hurdles slowing the adoption of VB.NET by VB 6.0 developers. Although still a favorite of many grassroots developers, VB 6.0 by all accounts is a dead language. While Microsoft will continue to support VB 6.0's close cousins, VBScript and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), it has no plans to enhance VB 6.0. Not surprisingly, when Microsoft officials mention VB, you can be sure they aren't talking about VB 6.0. Microsoft developers, the first adopters of VB.NET, have been using the language for almost 4 years now. Except for support issues, VB 6.0 is off their radar.

Although VB 6.0 may be dead, Microsoft is resurrecting many VB 6.0 developers' favorite features in the version of VB.NET that's part of the upcoming Visual Studio 2005 release, code-named Whidbey. Without a doubt, the biggest enhancement in Visual Studio 2005 for the VB developer is the restoration of the edit-and-continue feature. Edit-and-continue lets you make source-code changes while you're debugging a program and have those changes included immediately in the executing program. The new VB.NET IDE replaces the old dotted forms and sports an auto-alignment feature that visually connects all form objects, making it easier to create visually appealing forms. And Visual Studio 2005 provides enhanced data binding for WinForms, bringing it up to par with the data binding that VB 6.0 offers. VB 6.0 developers will also appreciate VB.NET's support for the new My .NET namespace. Like the old Me objects in VB 6.0, the new My namespace lets you easily access resources on the current system. VB 6.0 is dead, but in its third go-round, VB.NET has become a more-than-suitable replacement.

End of Article


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Reader Comments

Still no easy to use replacement for MSCOMM or WINSOCK!

tbeckner- July 20, 2004

Article Rating 3 out of 5

I think that one of the greatest hurdles in moving forward is the many VB 6 applications in the maintenance cycle that would require a massive effort to migrate to VB.NET, not to mention the redeployment effort. It is not easy to get management support for that kind of effort without some substantial end-user benefits.

I think that there needs to be more of an investment by Microsoft in fully-functional code migration tools to truly minimize the effort. It needs to be as easy as a push of the button before it will really be worth the redeployment and training effort of making the switch.

DennisAllen- July 23, 2004

Article Rating 3 out of 5

As a VB6 developer of Supervisory Process Control I pushed VB6 hard. This code is mature and stable and will probably exist for another 5+ years. There is absolutely no operational need to move this code to VB.Net. Except, no one will want to support it as the next generation will consider it old and hard to use. It's a shame.

I was hoping for VB7 to be the middle ground between VB.NET and VB6. Since I have no need for the Web side of the world (hard to believe), I find it hard to eliminate the Web related portions. The new features are nice, but I do miss edit and continue, but now I will have to wait until 2006 (ok Dec 2005) to use it. IT will be 2007 be anything will be productive... Like I said VB6 will be around.

tz3p9v- July 23, 2004

Article Rating 4 out of 5

I think the core problem of migration to vb.net is the apparent sharp decline in the interest to the IT as a whole; consequently, in the new products made by the programmers; consequently, in the new technologies to make those new products. VB.Net is far more powerful and robust development tool compared to vb6; the problem is, who needs more power to drive the bus when the number of paying passengers shrunk manyfold, and they want to get not across the mountains but to the shop across the street.

vrapp- July 24, 2004

Article Rating 4 out of 5

MS killed VB and the VB community with .NET and should forget the 8 million users it chased away. It took many years to build that community. After the VB betrayal, it is unlikely it can be rebuilt.

zenon- August 02, 2004

Article Rating 3 out of 5

You think Microsoft betrayed VB Developers -- it nothing compared to the betrayal they laid on Visual Foxpro Users...

Arden,weissa- August 05, 2004

Article Rating 4 out of 5

That's the nature of the technologies. The newer one drives the older one away from the stage. Cruel but real

jiezhang- August 06, 2004

Article Rating 3 out of 5

i saw an article abotu the most popular languages for SQL Server development.. i swear; it said lke '25% of develoeprs use VB6, 30% of developers use vbScript and 10% of developers use VB.net

i dont remember the exact numbers, but i really can't find this article on this website

-Aaron aaron_kempf@hotmail.com

Anonymous User- March 16, 2005

Article Rating 5 out of 5