Great empires often fall from within.
The death knell for Visual Basic is premature, but it's true that VB has deviated from its original vision as an "Application Construction Kit" for the masses and has lost significant market share as a result.
Tim Anderson summed it up best:
It sounds like perfection. Microsoft had perhaps the largest number of developers in the world hooked on a language which in turn was hooked to Windows. Yet Microsoft took this asset of incalculable value and apparently tossed it aside. Back in 2002, Microsoft announced that the language was to be replaced by something new, different and incompatible. That caused rumblings that continue today. Developers expressed emotions ranging from frustration to anger. They felt betrayed.
Much has been written lately about the fall of Visual Basic, triggered by an Evans Data survey indicating that VB use has dropped 35% in the past year, and other language surveys show VB falling behind its brother C# and market leader Java.
The problem is simply that when Visual Basic became VB.NET, it became a "real" programming language for trained developers, no longer the layman's "Application Construction Kit" of its original vision. As such, there's little to positively distinguish VB from the other .NET programming languages, especially the superior and more popular C#. The result is an expected drop in market share.
Perhaps next-generation Web development environments like Popfly and Silverlight will fill the gap left by VB. And there is a concerted effort including a web petition to convince Microsoft to support and upgrade the last "simple" version of Visual Basic, VB6. This support is unlikely, however, and VB's reign as "programming language for the masses" is over.
Humble Beginning
Alan Cooper is widely regarded as the father of Visual Basic. In 1987, Cooper was a director at Coactive Computing Corporation where he developed "Tripod," an improved shell/desktop for the fledgling Windows operating system. After initial testing, Cooper realized that "every user would need their own personal shell, configured to their own needs and skill levels." The idea of a "shell construction set" was born. There would be a palette of tools and controls, which users could drag & drop onto forms to create their custom shell.
Cooper began shopping the product around Silicon Valley seeking a publisher. There was little interest until March 1988 when Cooper showed a prototype to Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. Visionary that he is, the 32-year-old billionaire immediately saw Tripod's potential. Gates declared that Tripod was "cool" and would have significant impact across Microsoft's entire product line. In a few months the deal was done, Tripod became Microsoft's "Ruby," and Cooper assembled a team of engineers to deliver a commercial product.
The original intention was to ship Ruby with Windows 3.0 as a more powerful shell, but Microsoft instead decided to use the OS/2 shell, which Microsoft owned at the time from its deal with IBM. Microsoft decided to delay Ruby and convert it from a shell construction set for all users to a visual programming language for professional developers by adding QuickBasic. At first, Cooper was upset with Microsoft's decision and argued against it. However, after seeing the power of the eventual product, Cooper soon became an "enthusiastic Visual Basic supporter."
An Empire Rises
Visual Basic 1.0 for Windows was first released on May 20, 1991 at the Windows World convention in Atlanta where Gates described it as "awesome." InfoWorld Magazine described Visual Basic as a "stunning new miracle" that would "dramatically change the way people feel about and use Windows." Stewart Alsop wrote in the New York Times that Visual Basic is "the perfect programming environment for the 1990s."
VB version 3 (1993) added database access tools and Object Linking and Embedding (OLE). Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) was released in 1993 to replace the disparate macro features across Microsoft's product line and has since become the de facto standard for application programming in Microsoft Office and other products.
VB4 was released in 1995 to support the 32-bit Windows 95 operating system. VB5 was released in 1997 with significant improvements to the user interface, ability to create true executables and custom controls, and support for Microsoft's Active-X technology. It also dropped support for the 16-bit Windows 3.x operating system.
VB6 was released in 1998 as part of Visual Studio 6.0 that also included Microsoft's Visual C++ development environment. VB6 improved database access, added Internet features, language improvements and wizards. Many organizations still use VB6 today.
Microsoft surveys in the late 1990s showed that nearly two thirds of all business application programming on Windows PCs was done in Visual Basic. VB's overwhelming success was largely because it made Windows programming much easier. Prior to VB, Windows programming required mastery of the massive and complex Win32 APIs and took hundreds of lines of code to create even simple screen elements. VB eliminated the need to write lengthy code for the user interface, allowing developers to focus on business logic and produce usable Windows applications relatively quickly.
World-renowned Windows programming expert Charles Petzold told the New York Times, "For those of us who make our living explaining the complexities of Windows programming to programmers, Visual Basic poses a real threat to our livelihood."
.NET Pulls Out the Rug
In the late 1990's as the Internet was exploding, Microsoft had just successfully fought off a full frontal assault on its market dominance by killing the Netscape Web browser with its free Internet Explorer. But Microsoft was facing a host of new challenges, including serious problems with COM, C++, DLL hell, the Web as a platform, security, and strong competition from Java, which was emerging as the go-to language for Web development.
Microsoft's response was .NET, an object-oriented development environment and framework that provides a highly-functional abstraction layer between the operating system and programming language. Microsoft announced .NET to the world in June 2000 and released version 1.0 of Visual Basic .NET and the .NET framework in January 2002. Microsoft also labeled everything .NET including Office to demonstrate its commitment and dominance on this new thing called the Web.
Unfortunately for VB6 developers, the .NET object-oriented platform is far different than the procedural VB6 programming language, and so there was no easy way for developers to migrate their legacy VB6 code to VB.NET. Even though a few automated tools emerged to aid the conversion, due to the subtleties and intricacies of the languages, a significant amount of manual, error-prone labor was required. For larger projects, one would be better off re-writing the application from scratch in .NET using object-oriented architecture and best practices, than performing a mechanical port of VB6 code to VB.NET.
But starting over from scratch means evaluating all options on the table. And to most "Mom & Pop" developers, Visual Basic .NET appears to be an enterprise product with an enterprise price tag, with significant overhead required in terms of programming skills and computer resources. So instead of trying to manage the complicated move from VB6 to VB.NET, many VB6 developers moved their applications to the Web, using Java, JavaScript, Perl and PHP. As a result, millions of developers have left the Microsoft mothership and are unlikely to return.
Don't worry, be happy, VB fans. Programming languages never die, they just fade away. My COBOL/RPG2 programming buddies were working hundred-hour weeks during Y2K!
VB is Not R.I.P.
Much of the negative press lately about VB derives from the Evans Data survey indicating that overall use of Visual Basic has dropped 35% in just one year, including a 26% drop for VB.NET specifically. As a result, Java now leads with 45% market share(developers using Java some of the time), followed by C/C++ at 40%, C# at 32%, and Visual Basic at 21%.
Although a 35% drop in market share is significant, it's too early to write the Visual Basic obituary. Most companies would love to own 21% of a multi-billion-dollar market, though that may not be good enough for Microsoft. But combined with C# and managed C++, the Microsoft .NET family still commands half the software development market.
What is clear is that Visual Basic is no longer the programming language for the masses of its original vision. As a result, VB.NET will have to compete with the other .NET and Web languages on its own merits. With its wordy syntax and second-class status relative to big brother C#, it's unlikely the Visual Basic empire will rise once again. But Visual Basic will continue to be an effective Windows development platform for many years to come.
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Tags: .NET, Alan-Cooper, Bill-Gates, C#, Development, Languages, Microsoft-.NET, Popfly, Silverlight, Software, VB, VB.NET, VB6, Visual Basic, Visual-Basic-.NET, Visual-Basic-6
October 4th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Since my son just took his first programming class in freshman HS last year, there seems to be a pretty strong push among academia to include VB as the first level programming language to teach the basics of the craft. I think this is appropriate and would think that his experience is similar to other young high school kids that are just now exploring software development. BASIC was what I cut my teeth on several decades ago and I still think it is the most approachable first programming language (esp. since Apple has dropped its HyperScript product).
October 6th, 2007 at 11:55 am
A recent poll on VisualStudioMagazine.com:
Is Microsoft's plan to eliminate Visual Basic 6 support in 2008 premature?
58% - Yes, Microsoft is leaving me high & dry
20% - This doesn't affect me one way or another
23% - No, the cutoff can't come soon enough!
October 30th, 2007 at 7:19 am
Microsoft are idiots!
VB and Visual C++ where the best solutions for producing native code, and now they are obsolete with no (backward compatible) upgrade a path.
Good article, sad tale.
November 9th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
Unfortunately, Microsoft is shooting themselves in the foot. They don't remember why they had such a high percentage of the programming market with VB6 and earlier. If I need to change platforms, I have many choices. The Microsoft advantage is gone. NET programming is great but fast down and dirty it isn't. Yes, it can be if exceptions to the rule are low and users can live with a little clumsiness but unfortunately, many companies' business rules try to accommodate customers. The NET languages can be used to develop as long as you want to run a business around software. Like Oracle, Microsoft thinks business should follow the confinements of software. I believe software to be a tool to make a business run more efficiently and not be forced into new business practices to fit the software. I'm all for something better but don't dump one environment to go to the other until it actually is better. …Don't get me started on security.
January 19th, 2008 at 12:40 am
Hi,
Microsoft is a smart player, when it comes to Languages.
After the Ruby and Python hype, they have decided to bring all dynamic languages that works on DLR. IronRuby, IronPython are reaching the sky soon.
VB community will gain more in terms of support. They will now have a new version of Dynamic Vb or VBx as know n currently. This VBx will be competing with Dynamic languages.
PHP also comes under DLR, hence the .Net platform now offers many options.
Cheers!
January 30th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
MS is looking like a sinking ship. Yes you cannot see it now, but I can see the rust that is forming on it. In essence let's think about it why did MS get so popular. It's simple it's called the incrumental upgrade. Incrumental upgrades allow you to steer the market without disturbing it to much. People HATE change, they like using things they understand, and can predict. Look at the scorn vista is recieving. This is 7 years of pent up development released all at once. It used to be MS would wait no more than 3 years between upgrades. Yes they weren't as monumnetal, but at least most your apps would work. Somthing has happened inside MS, they have to much money lost focus, maybe Steve Balmer has Attention Defficit Dissorder. However he is driving this company into the ground. Vista should be the result of 7 years of upgrades to the XP platform. VB is the same story, yes I do hate VB with a passion but it does have it's place, and for many companies it's literally the glue that holds them together. To just depricate VB and not update the worlds most popular language, instead of extending it is plain arrogance. I see MS loosing marketshare to Apple, Linux, and anyone else that wants to manufacture a OS. All to chase a perceived goal, of marketshare, they own 95% of the Computer market in the world, now they want to be a google to?? Oh well It is always fun to watch an empire decline, MS is one that will be on the decline in 2010-2020.
January 30th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
P.S. I bought a Mac Last week if you would have told me I would 5 years ago I would have laughed on the floor at you.
April 30th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Good article - sadly, so true. I started with VB3 back in 1998 and progressed up to VB6, which is truly stellar. Then came VB.Net, a whole different animal. Not only is it a LOT different than classic VB, but you need the .Net framework on a User's PC for it to work — oh,
and be sure the framework version you are using will work with the VB.Net version you are using — what a nightmare. Now I'm not totally against .Net — it looks like it has some advantages, but it's certainly not development software for the "rest of us".
May 11th, 2008 at 8:26 am
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