A few ISV have asked me an identical question this week "what resources are available to help me move from Visual Basic 6 to .NET". I plan to expand on this in the coming weeks - but for now a swift set of the best links:

  • Keep an eye on the Visual Basic team talking about migration and interop - including plenty of good posts on the Interop Forms Toolkit
  • Learn about the Interop Forms Toolkit v2.0 which makes it much easier to mix VB.NET forms into VB6 applications. Great stuff!
  • Study the results of a community effort to create a definitive 21 chapter migration guide available online at Artinsofts site or which can be downloaded from Microsoft.com
  • Consider getting 3rd party assistance. Artinsoft have a lot of VB6 migration experience and can help you do the migration - either by licensing their VB Upgrade Companion or by taking advantage of their migration services. Artinsoft are doing some great work with some of my UK ISVs helping them move off VB6.
  • You should also checkout the support statement for Visual Basic 6 on Vista and Windows Server 2008 to understand the current situation
  • And finally - you need a book covering .NET development. The Visual Basic 2008 Programmer's Reference is a great one to go for - and a bargain at £11!