Despite its age and long teeth, VB6 soldiers on with thousands and thousands of dedicated users worldwide -- despite M$oft having virtually abandoned it.

I have programmed some commercial betting software in VB6 and am pleased to say they all run successfully under XP, Vista, W7  W8.

So there's still life in the old dog!

However, for those thinking of moving on, but who are not sure what's available, then here is a very interesting and detailed summary of some possible alternatives:

http://lightquick.co.uk/still-looking-for-a-replacement-for-vb6.html?Itemid=252

Very interesting article Max,

My views on supporting VB6 is: if it's used, support it.

I'd have no problem with supporting Windows 98 if it were still in use, but users aren't doing so.

Now, why would a company want to drop support for such a successful language? A MS-mystery novel.

[attach=1]

---

The most elegant solution for people looking for future-proof languages would be using TRANSLATORS as opposed to compilers.

Translators supported either by the community or paid staff secure the future of the programming language.

Ok, don't get me wrong here. There will always be "first tier" compiled programming languages tied to native code and best practices for their target platform, and they are much needed. They can remain the preferred realm of professional programmers, ensuring the platform is development to its fullest, that's a win.

What I see neglected is the "second tier" programming languages. One could easily argue there are more hobbyists and casual users in any field. This includes programming.

Now, by using a translator, changes in the underlying target "native" language don't need to be exposed to the 2nd-tier language, which increases the chances of it being truly future-proof.

Being conceived as an abstraction the code can be recompiled for 64 bits without a hitch. (Or for 128-bit or for whatever future platform it might be, if the abstraction is still valid for the target platform, no problem --and we've basically had to deal with the same standard objects like files, databases, network, etc. since decades ago and without any indication of the "core blocks" of computing changing any time soon).

---

One last point:

Pure windows programming is cross-platform.

As odd as it looks since the community already has a 100% free windows emulator (WINE) running across several platforms, code running under WINE automatically can be run in a supported platform.

You just have to think of WINE as another "run-time library" required for your program to run there.

With most desktop Linux distributions having a form of graphical package manager (i.e. Ubuntu software center) installation is already "point and click".

Anyway, if there's no graphical manager, simply writing:

sudo apt-get install wine

or

yum install wine

and hitting enter isn't that complicated anyway.

A similar (more modern) topic:

Microsoft v The Developers

http://www.i-programmer.info/professional-programmer/i-programmer/5880-microsoft-v-the-developers.html