Skip to content
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • World
  • Users
  • Groups
Skins
  • Light
  • Cerulean
  • Cosmo
  • Flatly
  • Journal
  • Litera
  • Lumen
  • Lux
  • Materia
  • Minty
  • Morph
  • Pulse
  • Sandstone
  • Simplex
  • Sketchy
  • Spacelab
  • United
  • Yeti
  • Zephyr
  • Dark
  • Cyborg
  • Darkly
  • Quartz
  • Slate
  • Solar
  • Superhero
  • Vapor

  • Default (No Skin)
  • No Skin
Collapse
Code Project
  1. Home
  2. Other Discussions
  3. The Insider News
  4. Microsoft Urged to Open Source Classic Visual Basic

Microsoft Urged to Open Source Classic Visual Basic

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved The Insider News
announcementhtml
14 Posts 11 Posters 0 Views 1 Watching
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • S Sean Ewington

    i-programmer.info[^]:

    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.'

    D Offline
    D Offline
    Dave Kreskowiak
    wrote on last edited by
    #2

    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

    T C S 3 Replies Last reply
    0
    • D 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 Kreskowiak

      T Offline
      T Offline
      Tim Carmichael
      wrote on last edited by
      #3

      Then, 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.

      1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • S Sean Ewington

        i-programmer.info[^]:

        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.'

        Sander RosselS Offline
        Sander RosselS Offline
        Sander Rossel
        wrote on last edited by
        #4

        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

        1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • S Sean Ewington

          i-programmer.info[^]:

          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.'

          L Offline
          L Offline
          Lost User
          wrote on last edited by
          #5

          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.

          V 1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • S Sean Ewington

            i-programmer.info[^]:

            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.'

            S Offline
            S Offline
            Simon_Whale
            wrote on last edited by
            #6

            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

            1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • D 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 Kreskowiak

              C Offline
              C Offline
              CHill60
              wrote on last edited by
              #7

              Quote:

              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.

              1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • D 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 Kreskowiak

                S Offline
                S Offline
                Sentenryu
                wrote on last edited by
                #8

                This "open source everything" campain should really stop. Open sourcing the language will NOT fix anything and is likely to introduce even more problems :doh: Those people should really bite the bullet and learn VB.Net at the very least.

                1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • S Sean Ewington

                  i-programmer.info[^]:

                  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.'

                  R Offline
                  R Offline
                  Richard Deeming
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #9

                  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

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • S Sean Ewington

                    i-programmer.info[^]:

                    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.'

                    B Offline
                    B Offline
                    Bassam Abdul Baki
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #10

                    Sean Ewington wrote:

                    You were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they 'should.'

                    That's a mathematician's quote. :-)

                    Web - BM - RSS - Math - LinkedIn

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • L Lost User

                      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.

                      V Offline
                      V Offline
                      Vark111
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #11

                      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.

                      L 1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • V Vark111

                        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.

                        L Offline
                        L Offline
                        Lost User
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #12

                        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.

                        V 1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • L Lost User

                          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.

                          V Offline
                          V Offline
                          Vark111
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #13

                          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.

                          L 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • V Vark111

                            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.

                            L Offline
                            L Offline
                            Lost User
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #14

                            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.

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            Reply
                            • Reply as topic
                            Log in to reply
                            • Oldest to Newest
                            • Newest to Oldest
                            • Most Votes


                            • Login

                            • Don't have an account? Register

                            • Login or register to search.
                            • First post
                              Last post
                            0
                            • Categories
                            • Recent
                            • Tags
                            • Popular
                            • World
                            • Users
                            • Groups