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Jeremy Falcon wrote: Seriously, still maintaining at this point is just being lazy.
You could say that about all legacy code but the fact is you have to do what businesses want. I just finished a contract that had legacy VB in it, even though the main application was ASP.NET MVC and C#. I wasn't entirely sure what the VB was for - it didn't concern my tasks but presumably, for whatever reason, they've seen fit to retain it.
Kevin
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Kevin McFarlane wrote: You could say that about all legacy code but the fact is you have to do what businesses want.
You're absolutely right. I didn't mean always lazy on part of the developer. There are plenty of lazy business types out there too.
Jeremy Falcon
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Kevin McFarlane wrote: Lots of code out there to maintain.
It should not be maintained, but (already have been) migrated. If it ain't worth migrating, it ain't worth keeping alive.
Kill it.
KILL IT WITH FIRE 
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
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Eddy Vluggen wrote: it ain't worth keeping alive.
Exactly. I wouldn't want to use a product that hasn't been updated in 10 years. It just shows that the company really doesn't care about it.
Jeremy Falcon
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Eddy Vluggen wrote: It should not be maintained, but (already have been) migrated.
It's not up to me. It's up to the businesses.
Eddy Vluggen wrote: If it ain't worth migrating, it ain't worth keeping alive.
Kill it.
If it works, why rewrite it just for the sake of it? I know as devs we always want to use the latest shiny toys (me included). But the world ain't like that.
Kevin
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Whereas continuing to use an unsupported product way past its expiry date, on new platforms that may no longer guarantee support for all components, or security updates related to them, carries no risk whatsoever?
"If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough."
Alan Kay.
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Kevin McFarlane wrote: If it works, why rewrite it just for the sake of it?
It's not a rewrite for the sake of it. If the manufacturer of the screws you use tells you he's discontinuing production of a screw you often use, you can either adapt or become outdated.
VB6, XP, great - ten years ago, with hardware that was current ten years ago. Still being on that platform means you did not anticipate IT to move forward and implies one chose the wrong business. Just as Betamax and the Amiga - history. Yes, some people are still using them, but don't expect a business that builds on them to survive for very long.
.."it works" is an argumentation that cost our government money (with XP support), since they also assumed that nothing would ever change.
Bastard Programmer from Hell
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
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Eddy Vluggen wrote: It's not a rewrite for the sake of it. If the manufacturer of the screws you use tells you he's discontinuing production of a screw you often use, you can either adapt or become outdated.
Say I have some code written in VB. It's working. It's not going to wear out like a screw.
Eddy Vluggen wrote: VB6, XP, great - ten years ago, with hardware that was current ten years ago. Still being on that platform means you did not anticipate IT to move forward and implies one chose the wrong business.
XP has 40% market share. That's a lot of businesses out there who chose the "wrong business."
Eddy Vluggen wrote: ."it works" is an argumentation that cost our government money (with XP support)
Sure, but it would also have cost them money to upgrade to Windows 7 or 8.
Most businesses do move forward eventually but there's always a cost-benefit analysis and it doesn't always correspond to the point at which vendors like Microsoft want us to upgrade.
Kevin
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Kevin McFarlane wrote: Say I have some code written in VB. It's working. It's not going to wear out like a screw.
The machine it ran on will not be produced anymore. There's no security-updates, no support, nothing at all, and you claim "it's working"? The screw will wear, and will need replacement sooner or later. Software may not rot, but the hardware that the platform was built for does.
And yes, even DOS is still in use.
Kevin McFarlane wrote: XP has 40% market share. That's a lot of businesses out there who chose the "wrong business."
Wrong, XP has a far higher market share - lot of them pirated copies. And yes, quite a lot of idiots out there, including some top-governments.
(and that's mostly the same fools that state that "security" is a priority)
Kevin McFarlane wrote: Sure, but it would also have cost them money to upgrade to Windows 7 or 8.
Yes, it is cheaper to be betamaxed. Becoming outdated can be done for free. I keep cringing when people try to sell sh*t that they themselves don't consider worth upgrading.
Bastard Programmer from Hell
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
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Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Codethulu VB6 wgah'nagl fhtagn.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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I have no idea what that means, but I'm just gonna agree with it.
Jeremy Falcon
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You need to spend more time reading the classics[^] (fortunately, Lovecraft is public domain), it means: "In his house at VB6 dead Codethulhu waits dreaming."
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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After reading the preceding comments, I thought I'd put my 2 cents in.
If an application is used in a closed environment (no internet access, firewalls in place, virus/malware check software current) and it serves a purpose, why rewrite it?
Sometimes, the limitation on upgrading the application is brought on by forces beyond the control of the developer. I worked in an environment that, until last year, was running applications on a Windows NT node. The reason? The DCS the application communicated with would not work with anything past Windows NT.
The cost to upgrade the DCS? Over $200,000.
The cost to maintain the existing system: considerably less.
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The very mention of "the cloud" still fills some people with hostility. Server huggers of the world unite!
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China will probably pass on this offer.
One doesn't want sensitive data in a cloud, but in a vault with limited access.
Bastard Programmer from Hell
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
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F# to JavaScript with type providers Because *of course* the world needed this
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There are times when people have far too much time on their hands. Someone needs to find these people a hobby.
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Pete O'Hanlon wrote: Someone needs to find these people a hobby.
I think they already found one. It just happens to annoy the hell out of you.
"If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough."
Alan Kay.
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It doesn't annoy me. I just can't see what problem they are solving.
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Redmond Channel Partner [^]. Current update: May 19, 2014.
“I speak in a poem of the ancient food of heroes: humiliation, unhappiness, discord. Those things are given to us to transform, so that we may make from the miserable circumstances of our lives things that are eternal, or aspire to be so.” Jorge Luis Borges
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Thank you! Definitely added to our monitor list.
TTFN - Kent
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Meteor showers are a real treat, with dozens visible per hour; this year's new Camelopardalids shower may prove extraordinary. "By being seldom seen, I could not stir but like a comet I was wonder'd at."
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Always winds up being cloudy whenever one of those comes around...forecast for Friday/Saturday - cloudy 
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Kent Sharkey wrote: Camelopardalids
Are they starting to run out of pronouncable names for these events by any chance?
Sounds like a cross between a Camel, a Leopard and an Aphid. May be time to start running.
"If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough."
Alan Kay.
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