Back to the Future... Please

A new day and a new job as a technology consultant in London. I think this screenshot says it all:

Can you tell what those applications are? I know it’s been a while so let me help you. First up is Visual Studio 2003 sporting the .NET Framework version 1.1. That’s before such fundamentals as TryParse, generics and 64 bit support.  Then there’s Visual C++ 6, released in 1998 if I remember correctly. Finally there’s Internet Explorer 6, as witnessed by the lack of PNG alpha blending (and tabbed browsing). This lovely collection of software is running on Windows XP SP2, released somewhere around 2004.

Just so we’re clear: as I write this it’s nearing the fall of 2008.  Can you feel my pain?  :)

11 Comments

  • No I can't, I love VC6 and code in it pretty much every day (using WndTabs and VisualAssist X add-ins)

  • asf: Hehe... I knew that was coming. I know a lot of people still dig VC6 but I just can’t go back. The VC team tells me “10 is the new 6” so hopefully the next release will have enough in it to convert you guys. :)

  • Fascinating. It wasn't that long ago when that was the bleeding edge. All those MSDN discs arriving in the post, hours spent installing, uninstalling, reinstalling the upgrade. I think it was about VS 2003 that I drifted off of Microsoft and started using a text editor on a Mac for dev.

  • I think you'll be a prime candidate to evaluate "10 is the new 6". Have fun reinventing the wheels in the newer libraries.

  • Ouch, I do feel your pain! :-(

    We still use Office 2000 (except Outlook, which is 2003) on WinXP SP2 on the majority of the PCs where I work. Luckily I work in the IS/IT dept, where we get Vista x64, Office 07, and much faster PCs than everyone else :D

  • Paul M. Watson: You can now opt for a download-only subscription to MSDN and save the landfills from all those coasters. Btw, congrats on the new arrival!

    Aaron Fischer: Why am I reinventing the wheel?

    Fr3d: Finally somebody who understands. :)

    Oh I forgot to mention that the PC is “powered” by a Pentium 4 (single-core). I forgot just how much of an impact multiple cores make with respect to responsiveness.

  • no, I can't!

    I'm still using Visual C++ 6. So I can write real software which runs on all windows platforms. No need for the creepy .net stuff. No security warnings if the exe is started from a network drive...

    Unfortunately I click on the wrong windows update button, so now I have this bad IE7 on my machine. I wanna have back the faster IE6!

  • Steffen: “real software”? VC 2008 is still primarily used for compiling native code. It provides the /CLR flag to instruct the compiler to produce managed code but you certainly don’t have to use it. VC 2008 still supports Windows 2000 and VC 2005 supports Windows 98 and Windows ME as well. Also, only managed code suffers from the network drive issue although I hear that policy has been changed in the latest service pack.

  • Looks like someone needs a hug and copies of Visual Assist X and RockScroll.

    I feel your pain but VAX and RS make it all okay. V10 is eagerly anticipated too.

  • Looks like I’m stuck with VC6 for this project. Does anyone know where I can find the Enterprise edition of VC6? I remember back in 1999 when I was pretty much living day and night inside VC6 that it had a decent profiler but the version I have at the client doesn’t appear to have it. I’m guessing this is not the Enterprise edition.

    I have the most comprehensive MSDN subscription but it does not appear to be included anymore. Any ideas?

  • Heh heh heh. And here I was complaining about the fact that I had to back-port some C# 2008/NET 3.5 code to C# 2003! Ah, the life of a technical consultant is not a glamorous one ;-)

    Anyway, should be back to C# 2008 soon.

    Good luck, Kenny ...
    Cheers
    Ash

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