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Confirmed: Microsoft Says It Will Open Source VB 6

Posted by timothy on from the don't-knock-it-yet dept.

msmoriarty writes "Microsoft told a group of MVPs today at Tech-Ed that it plans to take Visual Basic 6 open source and will release the source code on CodePlex. A source at the event said that Microsoft is planning to release only the VB6 language on codeplex – not Visual Studio or related tools." Update: 05/20 02:24 GMT by T : Alas, too good to be true. msmoriarty writes with an apologetic retraction: "We got it wrong — Microsoft denied and went back to our source and they pulled confirmation. Our apologies."

4 of 205 comments (clear)

  1. A Cunning Plan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Once Visual Basic becomes an open source project the public's perception of Open Source software will plummet.

  2. Re:And we care why? by fragfoo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Or is there some secret in the VB6 code that the open source community can actually learn from?

    Probably yes, you can learn a lot from past mistakes.

    --
    Sig? Heil
  3. The Product Management for VS says it's not true by mythz · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://twitter.com/#!/dseven/status/71352709785198592
    @dseven The rumors of VB6 going open source are simply not true. #msteched #vb6rumor #vb6

    http://twitter.com/#!/dseven/status/71359684904366081
    @dseven @beckynagel I'm the Director of Product Management for Visual Studio Tools & Languages. There's no more solid source than me. Its not true.

  4. Re:And we care why? by Sc4Freak · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Er, because at least one person will find this useful? Open-sourcing a previously closed product can only be a good thing for the community and FOSS, regardless of whether it's Microsoft or whether you personally believe it's useful. It's honestly something that Microsoft needs to be doing more often.