4 ms·

That's fine and I even like using .net, but at any point MS can pull a VB6 "not supported" on any technology or part of your stack while it has known vulnerabil

by ericb 19y ago

That's fine and I even like using .net, but at any point MS can pull a VB6 "not supported" on any technology or part of your stack while it has known vulnerabilities and you can't do anything but chew on it. How can you even put a cost on that?

baha_man 19y ago
I agree with your main point ("don't be a sharecropper" [1]), but as for the VB6 example, I don't think this is particularly convincing. It's not like VB6 users haven't had enough time to move over to VB.NET, and if they don't want to, they can still create applications using VB6. Existing VB6 applications are not suddenly going stop working because Microsoft isn't officially supporting VB6. What does 'support' mean anyway? [1] http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/07/12/WebsThePlace http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/07/12/WebsThePla...
- ericb 19y ago
  Actually, a previous company I worked at does have to move away. They have what they believe was one of the largest VB6 apps anywhere. It had its own embedded VBA as well. Now they have an enforced rewrite, and yes, it didn't mean it stops working that day, but they have licenses for VBA which they pass on to customers which DO expire (as in, they can't keep selling their product!). Now they have to move years of work and history to something new. So yes, real companies are real screwed by the decision. If Microsoft applies the same practice to ASP.NET some day, and a buffer overrun exploit is found, what are your alternatives?
  - baha_man 19y ago
    I guess Wasabi is a pretty good idea after all. May I ask if this company you used to work for has now embraced open source? [1] http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/09/01b.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/09/01b.html
    - ericb 19y ago
      Yes. They migrated most of the app to Java and made it web-based. Eclipse plugins and java for extensibility are going to replace the VBA.

by ericb 19y ago

baha_man 19y ago

I agree with your main point ("don't be a sharecropper" [1]), but as for the VB6 example, I don't think this is particularly convincing. It's not like VB6 users haven't had enough time to move over to VB.NET, and if they don't want to, they can still create applications using VB6. Existing VB6 applications are not suddenly going stop working because Microsoft isn't officially supporting VB6. What does 'support' mean anyway? [1] http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/07/12/WebsThePlace http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/07/12/WebsThePla...

ericb 19y ago
Actually, a previous company I worked at does have to move away. They have what they believe was one of the largest VB6 apps anywhere. It had its own embedded VBA as well. Now they have an enforced rewrite, and yes, it didn't mean it stops working that day, but they have licenses for VBA which they pass on to customers which DO expire (as in, they can't keep selling their product!). Now they have to move years of work and history to something new. So yes, real companies are real screwed by the decision. If Microsoft applies the same practice to ASP.NET some day, and a buffer overrun exploit is found, what are your alternatives?
- baha_man 19y ago
  I guess Wasabi is a pretty good idea after all. May I ask if this company you used to work for has now embraced open source? [1] http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/09/01b.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/09/01b.html
  - ericb 19y ago
    Yes. They migrated most of the app to Java and made it web-based. Eclipse plugins and java for extensibility are going to replace the VBA.