VB6 is Supported on Windows 8 1

[dilettante]

Support Statement for Visual Basic 6.0 on Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows 8

The Visual Basic team is committed to “It Just Works” compatibility for Visual Basic 6.0 applications on Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 including R2, Windows 7, and Windows 8.
The Visual Basic team’s goal is that Visual Basic 6.0 applications that run on Windows XP will also run on Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows 8. As detailed in this document, the core Visual Basic 6.0 runtime will be supported for the full lifetime of Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows 8, which is five years of mainstream support followed by five years of extended support.

 

[strongm]

 

[MakeItSo]

Hallelujah!


[navy]"We had to turn off that service to comply with the CDA Bill."[/navy]
- The Bastard Operator From Hell

 

[tedsmith]

I noticed that some of the functions when using Vb6 IDE do not work in Windows7 64 bit OS if you do not also install the Service Pack SP6.
(Notably Winsock. The original Winsock won't register)
Otherwise it all seems OK.

 

[strongm]

>if you do not also install the Service Pack SP6

I don' think I've run VB without a working version of SP6 for about 7 or 8 years ...

 

[tedsmith]

I did the other day accidentally because when I tried to install an old app on a new WIN7/64B machine it wouldn't run and gave install errors (invalid dlls).
I loaded vb6 to diagnose what was going on and forgot to add SP6

The old app was compiled before the SP6 was available and the only way to get it to work was recompile it.(luckily I still had the saucecode)

I only mentioned it in case some newbie tried to use vb6 on a new 64b machine and got the same thing.

 

[HughLerwill]

Gooood!

The next hurdle may be; Will MS still recommend installation of 32 bit vs 64 bit Office in the next version of that; If they release as 32 bit version of Office at all...

 

[dilettante]

If you play in the Office realm much you may have bigger fish to fry. It sounds like things are getting weird in Office 15, and Office 16 may be entirely Metro-based (assuming they don't pull Metro before Win8 releases, or drop it before "Win9" comes about).

Sounds like Access is gone entirely, and isolation under Metro/WinRT means no more Automation interface accessible from a VB6 program.

Too early to say though, they are playing the same sort of tight-lipped game they did with Win8/Metro.

 

[strongm]

I thought we still got Windows Desktop on Windows 8 and that WinRT was really just for Windows on ARM. But then I've not really been paying attention to this recently.

 

[dilettante]

It's hard to say what this means. Details on Office 15 are very thin, and some remarks suggest there will be a "Consumer Office" distinct from the usual thing we understand as Office.

No, WinRT is what undergirds Metro. It is a separate layer on top of Win32 with some sandboxing to provide a separate programming environment. Windows 8 has a Desktop on both ARM and x86/x64/ia64. You get Metro's main screen as a replacement for the Start Menu and it is in your face at logon. Before really, since even the logon screen is Metro-styled.

This "style" is pretty pervasive on Win8 though, even once you push Metro away. Tons of things bring up large borderless green windows with white text even when you are on the Desktop.