Thomas Warfield thinks that Microsoft has a problem - because Visual Basic was a great developer platform and VB.Net isn’t. Unfortunately, I don’t think Microsoft really had a choice because VB was just too good.

I’ve always been a server-side kind of guy. I never really got the hang of the NeXT Project Builder in the early 90’s. And I didn’t care much for building interfaces with Motif then either. But Visual Basic in the late 90’s was the first program that I could actually build good user interfaces with. Unfortunately, I had too much company.

Microsoft needed to move us into the world of .Net. And they were willing to drag us kicking and screaming it that’s what it took. It’s probably a win in the Corporate market. And Microsoft isn’t focused on the consumer market right now.

But Thomas, what about REALbasic? It might be a better match for your problem than Delphi. And it might give me some more application choices.

16 June: Thomas is going to take a look at REALbasic. That’s good news, I’d take a good look at Pretty Good Solitare for the Mac.