7 ms·

I miss VB6 and VB.net desktop apps as well. still my go to platform for personal apps, so easy to write. Not really sure why for internal company apps people ar

I miss VB6 and VB.net desktop apps as well. still my go to platform for personal apps, so easy to write. Not really sure why for internal company apps people are moving to webapp.

lojack 10y ago
We use web apps at my company because almost all developers know how to make them, not all computers are windows PCs, and you don't need to install anything of download anything for someone to use them. If you're talking about electron apps, that's a whole other ballgame. We don't build electron apps for internal stuff afaik.
- mattmanser 10y ago
  To be fair to him, it used to be that everyone knew how to make desktop apps and no-one knew how to make web apps. So that's definitely not the reason.
  - lojack 10y ago
    I can tell you with 100% certainty that the primary reason we build webapps for internal products at my company is because all the developers already know it. I understand this is more of an anecdote, but I really find it hard to believe other companies aren't making similar decisions.
    - mattmanser 10y ago
      I can tell you, with 100% certainty, that 10 years ago that was not the case. And there's a really good reason everyone switched.
      - lojack 10y ago
        I can tell you that I agree completely with that. But, that's not at all what I'm disputing. People within companies are building web apps because thats what they know. The world has changed in the past 10 years. In response to that, you took a hard line stance that this is "definitely not the reason." I disagree. I _think_ you're trying to argue about why developers -- as a whole -- have moved towards web apps, but its hard to say because that's not at all what I'm talking about and you haven't made that part clear.
matwood 10y ago
Completely agree. It's hard to beat VB6 for LOB CRUD apps.
- wila 10y ago
  My suggestion is to try DataFlex, it is better.
- dfox 10y ago
  It was always my impression that Delphi is significantly more productive for LOB CRUD than VB. In Delphi you can create meaningful CRUD applications in which all the manually written code consist of single-line methods of the FooForm.ShowModal variety.
slantyyz 10y ago
I miss them too. VB6 was usually the fastest way to build something that simply did the job. Now that I'm older and can't mode switch between languages as quickly as I could when I was younger, I find myself just using Node for my personal stuff.
boondaburrah 10y ago
Honestly, it's because the approval required to get an executable onto an employee's computer is absurd. If we can get chrome or firefox on the system image, then all we need to do is point them at a URL. Actually adding software to their computer requires all manner of support tickets and manager approval for them, so they won't do it.
mattmanser 10y ago
Deployment, it's always been about deployment. Gone were the days of having dB passwords on every machine and wandering from PC to PC with a floppy or CD. And that was the problem with desktop apps 10 years ago. Even when MS fixed deployment for desktop apps they still left it massively overcomplicated. It should have been a simple one click in visual studio to build an installer and it never was. One click deployment was/is pretty awful too that came out just as Google pioneered background updates.

I miss VB6 and VB.net desktop apps as well. still my go to platform for personal apps, so easy to write. Not really sure why for internal company apps people are moving to webapp.

lojack 10y ago

We use web apps at my company because almost all developers know how to make them, not all computers are windows PCs, and you don't need to install anything of download anything for someone to use them. If you're talking about electron apps, that's a whole other ballgame. We don't build electron apps for internal stuff afaik.

mattmanser 10y ago
To be fair to him, it used to be that everyone knew how to make desktop apps and no-one knew how to make web apps. So that's definitely not the reason.
- lojack 10y ago
  I can tell you with 100% certainty that the primary reason we build webapps for internal products at my company is because all the developers already know it. I understand this is more of an anecdote, but I really find it hard to believe other companies aren't making similar decisions.
  - mattmanser 10y ago
    I can tell you, with 100% certainty, that 10 years ago that was not the case. And there's a really good reason everyone switched.
    - lojack 10y ago
      I can tell you that I agree completely with that. But, that's not at all what I'm disputing. People within companies are building web apps because thats what they know. The world has changed in the past 10 years. In response to that, you took a hard line stance that this is "definitely not the reason." I disagree. I _think_ you're trying to argue about why developers -- as a whole -- have moved towards web apps, but its hard to say because that's not at all what I'm talking about and you haven't made that part clear.

matwood 10y ago

Completely agree. It's hard to beat VB6 for LOB CRUD apps.

wila 10y ago
My suggestion is to try DataFlex, it is better.
dfox 10y ago
It was always my impression that Delphi is significantly more productive for LOB CRUD than VB. In Delphi you can create meaningful CRUD applications in which all the manually written code consist of single-line methods of the FooForm.ShowModal variety.

slantyyz 10y ago

I miss them too. VB6 was usually the fastest way to build something that simply did the job. Now that I'm older and can't mode switch between languages as quickly as I could when I was younger, I find myself just using Node for my personal stuff.

boondaburrah 10y ago

Honestly, it's because the approval required to get an executable onto an employee's computer is absurd. If we can get chrome or firefox on the system image, then all we need to do is point them at a URL. Actually adding software to their computer requires all manner of support tickets and manager approval for them, so they won't do it.

mattmanser 10y ago

Deployment, it's always been about deployment. Gone were the days of having dB passwords on every machine and wandering from PC to PC with a floppy or CD. And that was the problem with desktop apps 10 years ago. Even when MS fixed deployment for desktop apps they still left it massively overcomplicated. It should have been a simple one click in visual studio to build an installer and it never was. One click deployment was/is pretty awful too that came out just as Google pioneered background updates.