VBNet - Life Expectancy

[KT]

Do we have any idea how long VBNet is going to be supported?

Being a hobbyist VB6 user I am only interested in creating windows based
applications and have no need for web services, asp etc. I suspect the back
will be broken in VB6 once the VB6 support date is met. So I have begun
looking at VBNet. I like the sound of the VB 2005 Express edition as this
almost sounds like it was designed for people like myself who have neither
the time nor money to become gurus but clearly there is a lot of learning
required to become just basically efficient in VBNet whatever the software
package. This is going to be costly in time and materials. My concern is
that a few years down the line VBNet will see a support end date and along
comes something else. Also the newer versions of the dotnet framework dont
seem to be compatiable with older versions of the VBNet software. To keep
up, legally, requires more cash output in buying the upgraded VBNet
software. Among other things this is all off-putting but if I knew VBNet was
going to be around for a long enough length of time to justify the efforts
might be helpful.

KT

 

[Robin Tucker]

If you look at how long VB has been supported (through all of its
incarnations, from VB3), you will see that its a considerable period of time
(in computing terms). In fact, VB6 is still supported, even though VB.NET
has been out for some years. Moreover (and this point is just as
important), regardless of whether VB.NET remains supported, by learning
VB.NET, you will pick up .NET framework experience, which is transferrable
to the other languages in the .NET suite (C# for instance).

 

[CJ Taylor]

Continuing what Robin said. Microsoft is making a huge shift towards .NET
and making it the foundation for other products. If you look at Longhorn,
..NET is an integral part of the operating system, so given that is expected
out in 2006 (I think) and WinFX (2007) has the same plans, I would expect
..NET to be around for a long long time. Especially long enough for you to
justify spending the $10 that express editions are supposed to cost (I'm not
sure on that price, but I've just heard from others it's not going to cost
much at all).

I personally think (as a hobbyist in many forms) that the 700 dollars a
professional edition costs of VS, or even the ~200 the Standard edition
costs is well worth the money. I have other hobbies that cost a LOT more
per year than that.

Just my 2 cents...

-CJ

 

[A Traveler]

Plus, i wouldnt worry about the learning curve so much. If youre
programming, chances are youre reasonably bright, and so it really shouldnt
be that much trouble to learn the move from VB to VB.NET

 

[Ken Halter]

Do we have any idea how long VBNet is going to be supported?

fwiw, VB.Net (the name) is already obsolete. They've dropped the .Net
part from their next release.

 

[CJ Taylor]

Waht does this have to do with the life expetancy of the product? It's
still .NET under the hood... and will be for quite some time if you read
Microsoft's Roadmaps... at this point, they have no intention of dropping
the .NET framework, just making it stronger

Until of course google sneaks in and takes over the world some how with
their crafty simple products...

 

[Larry Serflaten]

Do we have any idea how long VBNet is going to be supported?

No. How can anyone but the people at MSFT know for sure?

What we can expect, is that, like VB6, even after it life expectancy
has expired, the programs will still, (more or less) run on whatever
the next platform will be.

Due to the heavy investment MSFT is putting into including .Net
in their other offereings, it is a safe bet, they plan to keep that code
working for quite a while... How long is a while? Its anyone's guess!

LFS

 

[Ken Halter]

Waht does this have to do with the life expetancy of the product? It's
still .NET under the hood... and will be for quite some time if you read
Microsoft's Roadmaps... at this point, they have no intention of dropping
the .NET framework, just making it stronger

The framework... yes, B#, maybe. It's still a "toy language" as far as
MS is concerned.

 

[Larry Serflaten]

The framework... yes, B#, maybe. It's still a "toy language" as far as
MS is concerned.

Have you got a cite you can point to, or is that your own opinion?

LFS

 

[CJ Taylor]

Have you got a cite you can point to, or is that your own opinion?

LFS

ACK

I don't remember MS ever promoting it as a toy language. Given it has
almost identical functionality to C#. Sure C# has some cool features VB
doesn't, but then again, VB has some cool features C# doesn't.

If its a toy language, then I make a hell of a lot of money for getting to
"play".