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The Joel on Software Discussion Group (CLOSED)

The .Net platform experience will synergize the pardigns so much, that it will be easier to re-write all of your VB6 apps than to keep them running. So we're retiring VB.

Did I miss something or have you travelled in time from a few years ago?

Why imagine?

THEY SAID that

You might want to read the letter that MS MVPs sent

Regards

I was poking fun at a similar thread bitching about Python.

http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?joel.3.590077.33

I not really sure what the problem here is?

There is nothing stopping you from writing code with ms-access version 2.0 (what 1994??). In fact we still frequently get questions here about that Version in the newsgroups.

There is noting stopping you from writing software using FoxPro 2.6. That is also a dos based "text" system, and is also about 1992. (and, the last version of FoxPro was announced last year). My first work code is late 80's and is STILL running today (foxpro).

Microsoft has the best track record in the industry in this regards. You can still run all that old software. You can even that software in Vista that don’t even have dos anymore…

Apple, and good many of the other vendors out there have forced numerous upgrades upon their users. For example, all of the old applications for the old Apple Macintosh (such as Mac-paint etc). DO NOT work on the new
platforms. In other words, just about all of the 1980' applications (and early 90's code) for the Apple Mac do not work anymore. They WERE FORCED to upgrade.  And, apple done this MORE then once. In other words, the new OS comes out, and your software DOES NOT run anymore. Nothing is stopping you from running this old code.

Virtually ALL OF MY windows code from the early 1980's still runs fine on the newest windows box. Microsoft been really good in terms of NOT "breaking", or not
allowing the old code to run. In fact, they have the best track record in the industry by far in this regard by a country mile.

In fact I’m not aware of a any instance where Microsoft has prevented my code from running in my whole computing career, and if I point fingers at apple, it’s been actually several times in that same time period that the new OS will simply not run the old code. What this means is as a company that protects your long-term software investment, Microsoft beats the pants off of everybody else.

So, really, I don't see any problem here. Nothing is stopping you from using the 1992 version of dos based Reflex is there? (I have some clients still running that)

If you want, you can jump over to Dan Bricklins site, and download the ORIGINAL spread sheet for the ibm pc. It still works today! Do any of you remember VisiCalc? It is only a 27k download for a whole spread sheet!. Simply amazing. By the way, this spreadsheet is from the original 1981 VisiCalc disk, and it still runs on Windows vista today! (heck, the average GIF on a web site is larger!). (that makes this software 27 years old by the way).

Just how old of code are trying to run here? We can't go back before 1981, since the Pc did not exist. Hence, I can't help you with code before that.

If you looking for visi-calc, you ca find it here:
http://www.bricklin.com/visicalc.htm

So, if you big next development tool is going to be Visual Basic 3.0, you can choose that devepument tool, and if you need windows 3.1…hey, you are in business…

If past history is ANY indication of the track record from ms, then I don’t see why you can’t use and run VB6 for the next 30+ years.

Albert D. Kallal
Edmonton, Alberta Canada
kallal@msn.com

> Microsoft has the best track record in the industry in
> this regards.

I doubt that very very much.  I think the IBM z-series could still run programs which I wrote before Microsoft existed.

Albert -

You're getting bent for no reason. I'm not saying that Apple rules and Micro$oft sucks, etc. I do think that the way that Microsoft basically screwed over alot of people was a poor decision, but that's another topic.

I was just pointing out that while another poster was flipping out over a change in Python, he implied that Microsoft would never pull such a thing. And yet they did.