The overarching theme here, in most all of MS’s products since about 2002, has been lack of concern for user productivity. The abandonment of VB6, I would argue, is simply the most serious and hurtful example. One can see this easily in Win8 and the hours we wasted looking for ways to do things that used to be obvious ( imagine my clients reaction if I did that to them in my custom software !). The Office ribbon forced on us with no alternative is another obvious example; a concern for user productivity would have demanded a toggle be given us so we could use the text menus if we wished. The loss of the Access 2003 data base window in Access 2007 and on is another egregious example. I have scores of others as I use the whole range of MS products. The cause may have been stack ranking – I suppose it’s a moot issue now, the damage being done. I had hoped that the mea culpa seen in the return of the Start Button in Win 10 suggested a company wide admission of all this and a willingness to consider user needs over company hubris – but there’s no sign of it here.
Gentlemen at MS, if you read this: VB6 *WORKED* ; it allowed us to get good work done quickly. If you guys are not working programmers in the real world then you cant know what I’m talking about – and so I will not bother trying to explain what made it so much better than VB NET, but I can ask you to listen to us. We are asking for our tool back. Consider too – it will make you all very popular. Maybe you’ll get a raise and promotion.
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