March 7, 2025

In an era where everything runs on the cloud, and AI-powered tools generate code on demand, working with VB6 feels like stepping into a time machine. But legacy software has its demands, and sometimes the best way to maintain or modernize an old application is to embrace the past.

For a recent client, I had to make changes to a VB6 application that nobody was maintaining anymore. The original developer had long since left the company, and the source code was the only documentation available. The application was a critical piece of software, and rewriting it from scratch was out of the question. Or at least, for now.. Because this software needed an update to be compliant with the new security standards.

This is the kind of challenge that makes software development exciting. It’s not about the latest and greatest, but about solving real-world problems with the tools at hand. And sometimes, those tools are ancient :)

In Reiser, we focus on software products, especially mobile and web applications from scratch. But sometimes we accept challenges like this one, because we know that every project is an opportunity to learn something new, even from the past!

We set up a virtual machine with Windows XP and Visual Studio 6, and we started digging into the code and updating it to reflect the new security requirements.

Developing in VB6 in 2025 is a bizarre yet oddly satisfying experience. It’s a reminder of how far software development has come. Modern languages, frameworks, and tooling make life so much easier, but there’s something charming about wrestling with an ancient IDE and getting it to work against all odds.