Anti VB6 Petitions Up

Well, you had to know that it was just a matter of time before the backlash started. After a week, the luddites have 208 MVPs out of over 2000 signing their petition. However, some of their MVPs aren't really MVPs at all. Many of them are ex-MVPs, and of the remainder, some of those are from Front Page, Project, and other non-developer disciplines. Not sure if one or two Train Simulator or Age of Empires MVPs might have signed, because some of the signatories haven't listed their specialties. Out of the millions of developers that they claim are terribly concerned about the end of mainstream VB6 support, they have signatures from less than 1700. A cruel person would say that is the sort of performance expected from VB6 projects, but I would certainly never go for the cheap shot.

Raising the childishness level still further, the hey-who-moved-my-vb6-cheese crowd are focusing their anger on fellow MVP Frans Bouma for the cardinal sin of actually stating in public that there is an MVP newsgroup where MVPs have been discussing the issue. Well, duh. And the fact there are private MVP forums is hardly new, especially since Microsoft spills the beans on their MVP public page. See the viscous VB6 attack rabbits going after Frans in the comments here.

Finally, there are at least two counter petitions that are more likely to entertain than actually accomplish anything:

• A petition advocating emigration (among other things) for VB6 developers
• Andy's petition