Microsoft Urged to Open Source Classic Visual Basic
-
Visual Basic was launched by Bill Gates at Windows World on May 20, 1991 and since then has gone through has fourteen releases. The pinnacle release, as far as many of are concerned was VB6, the final non-dot-net version. To celebrate VB's Silver Anniversary let's re-open the campaign to open source VB6.
You were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they 'should.'
-
Visual Basic was launched by Bill Gates at Windows World on May 20, 1991 and since then has gone through has fourteen releases. The pinnacle release, as far as many of are concerned was VB6, the final non-dot-net version. To celebrate VB's Silver Anniversary let's re-open the campaign to open source VB6.
You were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they 'should.'
Oh for f***s sake, why?!?! So we can have a few branches of VB6 that don't work with each other as the parties that want it so bad will go to war as to which direction to take it? I sure as shit wouldn't want a production app written in any of those abominations running around my enterprise.
A guide to posting questions on CodeProject
Click this: Asking questions is a skill. Seriously, do it.
Dave Kreskowiak -
Oh for f***s sake, why?!?! So we can have a few branches of VB6 that don't work with each other as the parties that want it so bad will go to war as to which direction to take it? I sure as shit wouldn't want a production app written in any of those abominations running around my enterprise.
A guide to posting questions on CodeProject
Click this: Asking questions is a skill. Seriously, do it.
Dave KreskowiakThen, when someone wants the same thing for, let's say... the first iteration of C#... we can echo your sentiments then as well. It's not about the language (VB, C#, etc), its about how forked up it would get.
-
Visual Basic was launched by Bill Gates at Windows World on May 20, 1991 and since then has gone through has fourteen releases. The pinnacle release, as far as many of are concerned was VB6, the final non-dot-net version. To celebrate VB's Silver Anniversary let's re-open the campaign to open source VB6.
You were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they 'should.'
It will run nicely on my steam powered abacus :D
Read my (free) ebook Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly. Visit my blog at Sander's bits - Writing the code you need. Or read my articles here on CodeProject.
Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. — Edsger W. Dijkstra
Regards, Sander
-
Visual Basic was launched by Bill Gates at Windows World on May 20, 1991 and since then has gone through has fourteen releases. The pinnacle release, as far as many of are concerned was VB6, the final non-dot-net version. To celebrate VB's Silver Anniversary let's re-open the campaign to open source VB6.
You were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they 'should.'
Actually this is a terrible TERRIBLE idea. Now, I don't want to alarm anyone, but there are many systems that are surprisingly running on VB. Systems that ahhhh... Lets say are saftey critical (like planes). Open sourcing them will not make them better. It will only expose their flaws and likely lead to terrorism. So for the love of people not dropping out of the flipping sky DO NOT DO THIS! Yes, I know. We should not have flight critical systems dependent on VB. It is FAR to late to make that argument.
Computers have been intelligent for a long time now. It just so happens that the program writers are about as effective as a room full of monkeys trying to crank out a copy of Hamlet. The interesting thing about software is it can not reproduce, until it can.
-
Visual Basic was launched by Bill Gates at Windows World on May 20, 1991 and since then has gone through has fourteen releases. The pinnacle release, as far as many of are concerned was VB6, the final non-dot-net version. To celebrate VB's Silver Anniversary let's re-open the campaign to open source VB6.
You were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they 'should.'
I'd love to have a look at the source code just out of curiosity, as it was the first language that I used outside of Uni.
Every day, thousands of innocent plants are killed by vegetarians. Help end the violence EAT BACON
-
Oh for f***s sake, why?!?! So we can have a few branches of VB6 that don't work with each other as the parties that want it so bad will go to war as to which direction to take it? I sure as shit wouldn't want a production app written in any of those abominations running around my enterprise.
A guide to posting questions on CodeProject
Click this: Asking questions is a skill. Seriously, do it.
Dave KreskowiakQuote:
I sure as sh*t wouldn't want a production app written in any of those abominations running around my enterprise.
Believe it or not, I only recently (fairly) worked a contract converting some VB3 apps that were in in production in an "enterprise"... if that wasn't bad enough I had to convert them to VB6 to enable them to run on Windows 7... :rolleyes: It's true, I'll do just about anything for money.
-
Oh for f***s sake, why?!?! So we can have a few branches of VB6 that don't work with each other as the parties that want it so bad will go to war as to which direction to take it? I sure as shit wouldn't want a production app written in any of those abominations running around my enterprise.
A guide to posting questions on CodeProject
Click this: Asking questions is a skill. Seriously, do it.
Dave Kreskowiak -
Visual Basic was launched by Bill Gates at Windows World on May 20, 1991 and since then has gone through has fourteen releases. The pinnacle release, as far as many of are concerned was VB6, the final non-dot-net version. To celebrate VB's Silver Anniversary let's re-open the campaign to open source VB6.
You were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they 'should.'
And now, apparently, merging duplicate UserVoice requests counts as "censorship". :doh:
Quote:
Microsoft Censors Campaign To Open Source VB6 Update: May 23 Microsoft has merged the request on User Voice with one of the earlier "open source VB" requests. This essentially censors the user's voice without to seeming to be censorship.
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer
-
Visual Basic was launched by Bill Gates at Windows World on May 20, 1991 and since then has gone through has fourteen releases. The pinnacle release, as far as many of are concerned was VB6, the final non-dot-net version. To celebrate VB's Silver Anniversary let's re-open the campaign to open source VB6.
You were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they 'should.'
-
Actually this is a terrible TERRIBLE idea. Now, I don't want to alarm anyone, but there are many systems that are surprisingly running on VB. Systems that ahhhh... Lets say are saftey critical (like planes). Open sourcing them will not make them better. It will only expose their flaws and likely lead to terrorism. So for the love of people not dropping out of the flipping sky DO NOT DO THIS! Yes, I know. We should not have flight critical systems dependent on VB. It is FAR to late to make that argument.
Computers have been intelligent for a long time now. It just so happens that the program writers are about as effective as a room full of monkeys trying to crank out a copy of Hamlet. The interesting thing about software is it can not reproduce, until it can.
Huh? This isn't talking about open sourcing software built with VB. It's about open sourcing VB the language and (presumably) the IDE. Besides, Classic VB is trivially decompiled (done it several times myself). Open source or not, those critical systems you're talking about are already available to anyone with time on their hands.
-
Huh? This isn't talking about open sourcing software built with VB. It's about open sourcing VB the language and (presumably) the IDE. Besides, Classic VB is trivially decompiled (done it several times myself). Open source or not, those critical systems you're talking about are already available to anyone with time on their hands.
Vark111 wrote:
Huh? This isn't talking about open sourcing software built with VB. It's about open sourcing VB the language and (presumably) the IDE.
I know that. Do you know how systems get breached?
Vark111 wrote:
Besides, Classic VB is trivially decompiled (done it several times myself).
If you have the source code of the system. That is not likely to happen. However if some knucklehead releases the entire stack as open source it is easy to find vulnerabilities to any system and exploit them.
Vark111 wrote:
Open source or not, those critical systems you're talking about are already available to anyone with time on their hands.
No they are not. The systems that are built upon propriety stack depend on that stack being proprietary. In general many critical systems are "safe" purely because of metal. In other words, the FAA (and other agencies protecting critical systems like Nuclear plants etc.) use physicality to consider the system safe. That is changing and very fast. Many systems are in fact connected but their connectivity is limited by a glorified switch. Think of it this way. If I am running a safety critical system using an OS do I choose an entirely open OS as is or do I make some tweaks to protect the system? The OS in this case is much the same as the stack the systems are developed on. If it is open sourced vulnerabilities are exposed regardless of open sourcing the actual system.
Computers have been intelligent for a long time now. It just so happens that the program writers are about as effective as a room full of monkeys trying to crank out a copy of Hamlet. The interesting thing about software is it can not reproduce, until it can.
-
Vark111 wrote:
Huh? This isn't talking about open sourcing software built with VB. It's about open sourcing VB the language and (presumably) the IDE.
I know that. Do you know how systems get breached?
Vark111 wrote:
Besides, Classic VB is trivially decompiled (done it several times myself).
If you have the source code of the system. That is not likely to happen. However if some knucklehead releases the entire stack as open source it is easy to find vulnerabilities to any system and exploit them.
Vark111 wrote:
Open source or not, those critical systems you're talking about are already available to anyone with time on their hands.
No they are not. The systems that are built upon propriety stack depend on that stack being proprietary. In general many critical systems are "safe" purely because of metal. In other words, the FAA (and other agencies protecting critical systems like Nuclear plants etc.) use physicality to consider the system safe. That is changing and very fast. Many systems are in fact connected but their connectivity is limited by a glorified switch. Think of it this way. If I am running a safety critical system using an OS do I choose an entirely open OS as is or do I make some tweaks to protect the system? The OS in this case is much the same as the stack the systems are developed on. If it is open sourced vulnerabilities are exposed regardless of open sourcing the actual system.
Computers have been intelligent for a long time now. It just so happens that the program writers are about as effective as a room full of monkeys trying to crank out a copy of Hamlet. The interesting thing about software is it can not reproduce, until it can.
-
N_tro_P wrote:
If you have the source code of the system.
You can decompile Classic VB apps with access to nothing more than the exe file.
Vark111 wrote:
You can decompile Classic VB apps with access to nothing more than the exe file.
Holy crap you are totally missing the point. How is it exactly you plan on getting access to the source code of the FMS? Good luck with that. You clearly do not understand what I am talking about.
Computers have been intelligent for a long time now. It just so happens that the program writers are about as effective as a room full of monkeys trying to crank out a copy of Hamlet. The interesting thing about software is it can not reproduce, until it can.