VB6 no longer supported

Since last Friday, 01-Apr-2005, Microsoft no longer supports VB6. Instead, VB6 will only be supported for another 3 years in a period called extended phase. After 01-Apr-2008, VB6 will no longer be supported. During extended phase, all supports & updates will be charged. All online supports will be terminated during the extended phase. And, no new license can be bought for VB6.

For a complete story, read here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/support/vb6.aspx

For anyone using VB6 to deploy applications for their customers, they must now follow the new rule from Microsoft, i.e. VB.NET Downgrade Policy. This policy is given by Microsoft only on a case-by-case basis (except if it's already included in your EULA). After receiving Microsoft's approval, we must then buy the license for VB.NET, before being able to use VB6 through the Downgrade Policy.

For a complete story, read here:
http://www.microsoft.com/permission/copyrgt/cop-soft.htm#Downgrades

Following is the list of supports for several Microsoft products. Listed are the end date of their mainstream support, prior entering the extended phase like what VB6 did last Friday:
.NET SDK 30-Jun-07
.NET Framework 1.1 30-Sep-08
VB.NET 2003 30-Sep-08
VB6 EE 31-Mar-05
VBA6 31-Dec-08
C#.NET 2003 SE 30-Sep-08
C++ 6.0 EE 30-Sep-05
VSS 6.0 SE 30-Jun-07
VS.NET 2003 EE 30-Sep-08
Web Services 2.0 30-Sep-08

For a complete list, read here:
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifedevtoolfam

Because of this EOL issues, several MVP from Microsoft signed an open petition to ask Microsoft to support unmanaged VB (VB6) and VBA. Currently there are already 4739 signatures, including 238 of them are from Microsoft MVP.

For a complete information on the petition, read here:
http://classicvb.org/petition/

Following are some technical issues regarding the migration from VB6 to VB.NET:
1. VB6 code cannot be recompiled using VB.NET compiler
2. Migration Wizard offered by Microsoft for this purpose cannot give a complete working solution, and instead leave a lot of TODO for the developer scattered throughout the migrated code.
3. Since 1975 up to 2001, all code from MS BASIC up to VB6 are still forward compatible (even though they're not necessarily backward compatible). But this history (tradition) has been broken by the migration from VB6 to VB.NET which is not compatible (both forward & backward)
4. The changes frmo VB6 to VB.NET are very fundamental since they change the language of VB itself.

Following are more links regarding the migration issues:
http://classicvb.org/petition/faq.asp
http://www.devx.com/vb/article/16822
http://vb.mvps.org/vfred/Trust.asp