Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 11th Jun 2012 00:38 UTC, submitted by judgen
"Microsoft recently extended 'It Just Works' compatibility for Visual Basic 6 applications through the full lifetime of Windows 8. Visual Basic 6 first shipped in 1998, so its apps will have at least 24 years of supported lifetime. Contrast that with the Microsoft .NET Framework 1.0 (2002), which is incompatible with Windows 7 (2009)."
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RE[3]: Apps have actually gone downhill since then.
by Alfman on Tue 12th Jun 2012 14:09
in reply to "RE[2]: Apps have actually gone downhill since then."
Member since:2011-01-28
moondevil,
"This has nothing to do with the VB frontends, but everything with the backend."
Well, ActiveX, VBD's, DCOM, etc were an awful mess. They were far more painful to deploy than web applications. However your point is completely valid with respect to Local vs Web apps in general.
"Web applications suffer from the same issues, with the added complexity that part of the UI is also running server side."
Yep, "fat applications" often deliver a superior interface and consume fewer resources at the same time.
"As for web interfaces being pleasant. I curse every time I need to maintain a mountain of CSS/HTML/JavaScript garbage that could be easily done in a RAD tool."
Well, in theory a good RAD tool could encapsulate the CSS/HTML/Javascript bits on the web in the same way it encapsulates the win32s on the desktop, but in practice we have many kludges to compensate for web postbacks and needing to write interfaces in both client side and server side code.
RE[3]: Apps have actually gone downhill since then.
by galvanash on Wed 13th Jun 2012 03:43
in reply to "RE[2]: Apps have actually gone downhill since then."
Member since:2006-01-25
This has nothing to do with the VB frontends, but everything with the backend.
No. It has everything to do with the middleware - and VB6 doesn't have any worth speaking of. Sure, you can add some - but it is harder than just wiring things up with ADO/RDO. Obviously that isn't an option, since the whole argument against moving off the now 15 year old dead end platform is that .NET is too hard.
I hear ya though - making your app scale is the DBA's problem...
Web applications suffer from the same issues, with the added complexity that part of the UI is also running server side.
Not modern ones. There is virtually no reason to "run" UI code on the server anymore. You may host it and serve it to clients, but you certainly don't need to run anything except your data layer. It is the same thing as putting a VB6 executable on a network share, except:
1. It can work on different platforms.
2. It works over the internet.
3. It at least can work on mobile devices if you bother.
3. Pick a language you like - there are hundreds.
4. Supports virtually any database known to man.
5. Performs extremely well when done right.
6. Scales much better than monolithic desktop apps using connection oriented, archaic things like ADO/RDO/ODBC.
7. Has the largest developer community on earth.
8. Is the way Microsoft is moving anyway...
User interfaces do not have anything to do with server side scalability.
No they don't. But 15 year old database connection components do...
As for web interfaces being pleasant. I curse every time I need to maintain a mountain of CSS/HTML/JavaScript garbage that could be easily done in a RAD tool.
There are RAD tools for the web too you know... But if web frontends don't float your boat there is WPF, Silverlight, QT, GTK+, etc. etc. etc.. At least those technologies have parts that were actually written for Operating Systems newer than Windows 98...
I know I am sounding like an ass at this point. I don't care, it's frankly infuriating. I honestly cannot understand how any rationale person can defend continued use of a 15 year old product built on extinct technology on the sole basis of "it's easy"... When I was 12 I wrote TIBasic programs for my TI99/4A - compared to modern development in practically any language it was certainly easy - but it is also irrelevent now. The world has moved on. The vendor of the tool has moved on (and then some). It's time to move on.
RE[4]: Apps have actually gone downhill since then.
by Alfman on Wed 13th Jun 2012 04:50
in reply to "RE[3]: Apps have actually gone downhill since then."
Member since:2011-01-28
galvanash,
"Not modern ones. There is virtually no reason to 'run' UI code on the server anymore. You may host it and serve it to clients, but you certainly don't need to run anything except your data layer."
It's probably not worth my getting involved here since I do agree with your overall message - leave bad legacy code behind when possible. However I'm not sure why you made the above claim? You must know that the overwhelming majority of web apps do generate UIs on the server instead of the client. Even modern frameworks like ASP.Net have done very little to shift UI generation to the client side.
It's technically possible to shift all UI code to the client side by using ajax and eliminating postbacks, but that's the exception rather than the norm.
RE[4]: Apps have actually gone downhill since then.
by moondevil on Wed 13th Jun 2012 06:29
in reply to "RE[3]: Apps have actually gone downhill since then."
Member since:2005-07-08
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 11:29 UTC
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:33 UTC
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
Linked by David Adams on 05/16/13 4:23 UTC
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/08/13 14:22 UTC
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/02/13 15:28 UTC
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/18/13 11:21 UTC
Nokia has posted its quarterly results for the first quarter of 2013, and just like the quarters that came before, there's not a whole lot of good news in there. The rise in Lumia sales still can't even dream of making up for the sales drop in Symbian phones, and when broken down in versions, the sales figures for Windows Phone 8 Lumias in particular are very disappointing. In North America, Nokia is getting slaughtered.More Features »
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2005-07-08
This has nothing to do with the VB frontends, but everything with the backend.
Web applications suffer from the same issues, with the added complexity that part of the UI is also running server side.
User interfaces do not have anything to do with server side scalability.
As for web interfaces being pleasant. I curse every time I need to maintain a mountain of CSS/HTML/JavaScript garbage that could be easily done in a RAD tool.