In the windows of ecosystem for basic business apps, it was so way to build things. I know Microsoft made it, so it has an unfair advantage vs languages like Delphi, but compared to C++ it was so easy and fast to build basic working apps.

My favorite thing was to watch a guy who was in tech support and frustrated with our overly complicated process build something on his own that solved a major problem we had. This was by himself. It was amazing. Low barrier to entry, and he taught himself enough to fix his issue. The vp called me in to look at it and make sure it was ok, and I was like “a couple things here or there but it was more than good enough to function day to day.” Never would have happened with lower level languages.

There a good chance of this type of citizen developer coming back with AI. Google AI studio will automatically add a Firebase backend to vibe coded apps when needed.

Some of the worst code I have ever seen was written in VB. Some of the best tools that solved awful business problems was written in VB.