Language · 1998–2010 · Object Wave
Visual Basic 6
Drag-and-drop business logic that powered SMB back offices worldwide. Microsoft killed it; the apps refused to die.
VB6 stuck because millions of line-of-business apps work well enough and their authors retired. Migration to .NET was sold as easy and priced as impossible. Low admiration, persistent adoption — the stickiness is payroll continuity, not design quality.
Context
Everything became an object — until it didn't
Objects promised reuse; enterprises bought the promise in bulk. Java gave a portable runtime with real teeth. CORBA and UML-heavy processes gave vendors a decade of workshops. The survivors were the languages and platforms that outlived the methodology theater. The lesson — complexity sold as architecture burns cash — returns every decade with new branding.
Compare with
Related
Language · 2000–now
C# / .NET
Microsoft's managed stack grew up — cross-platform, open source, and still dominant in enterprise Windows shops.
Language · 1995–2015
Delphi / Object Pascal
RAD Windows client development before .NET. Still runs vertical-market apps whose source lives on a burned CD.
Language · 1959–now
COBOL
Batch processing lingua franca of mainframes. Despised in conferences; irreplaceable in unemployment and banking ledgers.