Why is Microsoft providing customers and partners with the Visual Basic 6.0 Product Life Cycle Guidelines?

Customers and partners requested that Microsoft provide them with advanced notice regarding changes in the availability of the Visual Studio family of products and the support offerings for those products.

What products are in the Visual Basic 6.0 family of products? ?

The Visual Basic 6.0 family of products includes the Standard, Professional, and Enterprise editions of Visual Basic 6.0. It also includes users of Visual Basic 6.0 who obtained their licenses via Visual Studio 6.0 Professional and Enterprise editions.

Do these life cycle guidelines apply to other Visual tools (for example, Visual C++ 6.0 and Visual J++ 6.0) or just Visual Basic?

These guidelines apply only to Visual Basic 6.0. For the support policy for other Microsoft developer tools, view the Microsoft Support Life Cycle Policy page.

I use Visual Basic from Visual Studio 6.0. Do these support guidelines still apply to me?

Yes. Irrespective of how you purchased Visual Basic, these support guidelines still apply to you.

How were the Visual Basic life cycle guidelines developed?

Microsoft worked closely with customers, partners, leading analysts, and research firms to determine guidelines that provide those constituents with the advanced notice they need to make accurate information-technology and product planning decisions within their organizations.

Do the life cycle guidelines affect how long I can legally use a Microsoft developer tool once I've licensed it?

No. The guidelines affect new license availability in certain channels and product support policies only. They do not affect an end-user's ability to use a product from the Visual Basic 6.0 family once they have licensed it legally.

Will Microsoft always maintain these guidelines?

Microsoft will continually review these guidelines for their appropriateness and may make policy adjustments on particular products in the Visual Studio family. If policy adjustments are planned for a given product, Microsoft intends to provide at least 12 months notice before making any changes in availability or support for that product.

Instances may occur in which Microsoft has already implemented a policy change for an older Visual Studio family product that falls outside these guidelines. In such cases, Microsoft will reactivate neither a product license nor support availability.

As a Volume Licensing customer, how do I obtain Visual Basic 6.0 Family product media once the product is no longer in the Mainstream phase?

Microsoft will continue to provide media through Worldwide Fulfillment during the Extended and Non-Supported phases. You can call your reseller for information on how to get older media.

As a retail customer, can I still buy Visual Basic 6.0?

No, you cannot buy a new license of Visual Basic 6.0 at this time. Please see the Visual Basic .NET Downgrade Information page for information on how to acquire Visual Basic 6.0.

I am an MSDN subscriber. How long will I be able to receive Visual Basic 6.0?

Microsoft will continue to ship Visual Basic 6.0 at least until June 2002 in the monthly shipments, and customers will be able to request special shipments of Visual Basic 6.0 through 2002. We will also make Visual Basic 6.0 products available as Web downloads from the subscriber downloads Web site until the end of 2003.

If I have a significant business need to continue deploying older versions of products in the Visual Studio family, what should I do?

Microsoft Volume Licensing allows downgrade rights under Volume Licensing 6.0. Customers who purchase the current release have full downgrade rights to previous versions. To determine if you are eligible for downgrade rights, please check the product's End User License Agreement (EULA). For more information about the EULA, see the Microsoft Software Piracy Licensing Guide for Retail Products.

Microsoft will continue to offer professional services and technical expertise to Premier Support customers to help maximize business value and minimize total cost of ownership. This commitment will remain available through the Extended phase of the Visual Studio Family Product Life Cycle Guidelines.

There are no Enterprise or Professional versions of Visual Basic in the new release. How do I get downgrade rights to these products?

Visual Studio .NET Professional and Visual Studio .NET Enterprise Developer provide you with the downgrade rights to Visual Basic Professional and Visual Basic Enterprise Edition, respectively.

If I am an Academic customer, how do these guidelines apply to me?

Academic licensing programs will remain unchanged. Microsoft will provide additional details regarding the life cycle of products in this channel in the future.

Do the guidelines apply to all language versions?

Yes, all language versions of a product in the Visual Basic 6.0 family will transition from one phase to another on the same dates.

What other options do I have for getting support?

Microsoft offers a wealth of no-charge, self-help tools and content on its support Web site that is available 24 hours a day, every day. These resources include a 150,000-article Knowledge Base, how-to articles, troubleshooting information, frequently asked question lists, support Webcasts, community newsgroups, and much more. For complete information about support offerings, visit the Microsoft Product Support Services Web site.

What is pay-per incident support?

This is a service that Microsoft offers to customers seeking help for a single, product-related problem or "incident." Service is offered over the Internet or by phone, and a standard charge for support applies per incident. See the Microsoft Product Support Services site for more information.

What is Premier Support?

Premier Support is a Microsoft support program designed to help large enterprises successfully develop, deploy, and manage business systems built with a broad range of Microsoft solutions for the server and the desktop. Premier customers benefit from a proactive account-managed relationship, personalized technical services, and fast, expert resolution of technical issues for all Microsoft products, any time of the day or night. For more details, visit the Microsoft Support Web site.

Will security fixes for Visual Basic 6.0 continue to be available at no costs?

Microsoft will continue to provide security updates to all our customers free of charge through the mainstream and extended phases. In the non-supported phase, no security fixes will be provided.

Why does the Mainstream phase end six years after the product is first distributed?

In the time period between general availability and the end of Mainstream support for a particular developer tool, there are typically great advances in software development capabilities. Because many of these advances could not have been anticipated or tested during the development of the products, a customer is not likely to have a positive experience developing new software applications while using the older development tools.

Once Microsoft's free and paid support offerings have ended, what are my options if I want to continue to receive support?

Microsoft Gold Certified Partners for Support Services are independent companies that provide the industry's best support for Microsoft products. Microsoft certifies and maintains a close relationship with these companies—a select group of the industry's most notable support providers—to ensure that the support you receive meets Microsoft's own rigorous standards for quality and value. Some partners may continue to provide Visual Studio family product support even though it's no longer available from Microsoft. Check with support partners for individual policies on these products.

Do the Visual Basic 6.0 Family Product Life Cycle Guidelines apply to existing Premier Support customers?

Yes, these guidelines apply to all Microsoft customers. However, Microsoft is committed to helping existing Premier Support customers migrate their developer tools to our current version. Existing Premier Support customers should contact their Technical Account Manager (TAM) or Applications Development Consultant (ADC) to discuss the alternatives available to them.

What is Critical Update Support?

A Critical Update, also known as a "HotFix" or a "QFE" (Quick Fix Engineering package) is a change that Microsoft makes to an installed code base for the environment of a specific customer. Critical Updates are not intended for general installation, since they do not undergo extensive beta testing when they are created. Microsoft targets Critical Update support to enterprise-level customers to help provide an extra level of security for mission-critical software systems.

Who should customers contact to purchase Critical Update support during the Extended phase?

You can purchase Critical Update support agreements in the Extended phase through your TAM or ADC, or by calling (800) 936-3200 in the U.S. For contact information outside the U.S., please check with your TAM or ADC, or visit Worldwide Support. You can obtain pricing and other eligibility details directly from your TAM or ADC.