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Who killed VB6 and thought VB.Net would be a good idea? I remember a long gone Channel 9 video where the VB guys had arguments for .Net and showed a demo of the

by frik 12y ago

Who killed VB6 and thought VB.Net would be a good idea? I remember a long gone Channel 9 video where the VB guys had arguments for .Net and showed a demo of the third part transition tool, that ship as Lite-version with Visual Studio 2002/3.

shawnb576 12y ago
The idea was that a converged, single, multi-language runtime and framework was the way to go. This is the way the culture works in Redmond - that's considered "strategic thinking", which is only exists in that bubble. It wasn't that the plan was bad, it's that it was unrealistic to think that the users of a very mature, very scenario-focused product would be happy with a V1 generalized product that was sorta-kinda the same thing. This was obviously false, and I actually fought against the porting tool because I didn't think it would work (it didn't), and just piss people off (it did). To keep VB6 alive until VB.net matured is anthetical to the way the place runs. Newer is _always_ better, even if it's not, and there lacked any incentive in the comp system for people to take care of the existing userbase. So, that's what happened.
- sukilot 12y ago
  This really puts into focus the meaning of "strategic thinking": abandoning current customers in favor of potential future customers.
- pron 12y ago
  > there lacked any incentive in the comp system for people to take care of the existing userbase Can you explain that? Are there incentives to do other stuff?
  - shawnb576 12y ago
    The basic system - no. As of 2012 when I left, comp was about what your management was interested in. Maybe "take care of existing users" is on your review commitments, but what's really on there if you want to get ahead is: ship features, drive future business, etc. As such people wanted to work on the next new thing, it was relatively bad for careers to be on existing old things. Massive variations between groups, but basically that was the culture.
    - frik 12y ago
      Thanks for sharing your experience, it helps to understand some of the business decisions.
cm2187 12y ago
Honestly there were a lot of bad design decisions in VB6 that needed breaking backward compatibility. Requiring to use "SET" to assign objects, parameters being BYREF by default, inconsistent base (1 or 0) for various collections. VB.net isn't that difficult to migrate to and when one gets used to it, it's hard to have much nostalgia for VB6.

by frik 12y ago

shawnb576 12y ago

The idea was that a converged, single, multi-language runtime and framework was the way to go. This is the way the culture works in Redmond - that's considered "strategic thinking", which is only exists in that bubble. It wasn't that the plan was bad, it's that it was unrealistic to think that the users of a very mature, very scenario-focused product would be happy with a V1 generalized product that was sorta-kinda the same thing. This was obviously false, and I actually fought against the porting tool because I didn't think it would work (it didn't), and just piss people off (it did). To keep VB6 alive until VB.net matured is anthetical to the way the place runs. Newer is _always_ better, even if it's not, and there lacked any incentive in the comp system for people to take care of the existing userbase. So, that's what happened.

sukilot 12y ago
This really puts into focus the meaning of "strategic thinking": abandoning current customers in favor of potential future customers.
pron 12y ago
> there lacked any incentive in the comp system for people to take care of the existing userbase Can you explain that? Are there incentives to do other stuff?
- shawnb576 12y ago
  The basic system - no. As of 2012 when I left, comp was about what your management was interested in. Maybe "take care of existing users" is on your review commitments, but what's really on there if you want to get ahead is: ship features, drive future business, etc. As such people wanted to work on the next new thing, it was relatively bad for careers to be on existing old things. Massive variations between groups, but basically that was the culture.
  - frik 12y ago
    Thanks for sharing your experience, it helps to understand some of the business decisions.

cm2187 12y ago

Honestly there were a lot of bad design decisions in VB6 that needed breaking backward compatibility. Requiring to use "SET" to assign objects, parameters being BYREF by default, inconsistent base (1 or 0) for various collections. VB.net isn't that difficult to migrate to and when one gets used to it, it's hard to have much nostalgia for VB6.