RAD Basic: 100% compatible with VB6 Visual Basic 6 (AKA Visual Basic classic)

General

Why is there no version available for download yet?

By the moment, the development is focused in building the core and implementing the most challenging features. So, the compiler is not useful yet for real applications, only for small test applications. When it could compile real useful applications, it will released a public demo version.
You could get early access of our beta releases in patreon.

Why a Patreon page?

The development of RAD Basic is done in my free time. Although it went well, it is impossible for this big project finishing it only with spare time. For the 100% compatibility goal is important the completeness of the project.
So, the Patreon page is for getting funding for working in the project full time, in a professional way. And Patreon is a great platform for get the community engaged. Empower all the Visual Basic lovers.

Support RAD Basic in Patreon!

How much will cost a licence?

There will be four editions, so you could choose one suited to you. Review editions comparison table and subscription prices in our Patreon page.

Output executables will need .NET runtime?

No, output executables are native (PE executables). So, they won't need .NET runtime for run. The .NET runtime is only needed by Development Environment (IDE and compiler).

Legal

Is it legal?

It is definitely legal, as there are Wine, LibreOffice, ReactOS and other projects trying to be compatible with other products. RAD Basic Developers do not and have not looked at any leaked Visual Basic (VB6/VBA) source code. It is a reimplementation without using any of Microsoft's code. Main RAD Basic goal is to perform exactly the same as Visual Basic 6 but it WILL accomplish this differently due to having very different source code being programmed by a completely different team of developers.

Is RAD Basic based on Visual Basic runtime?

No, RAD Basic is developed from scratch using a different language (C and C#) and framework (ANTLR and .NET) from Visual Basic 6.

Could RAD Basic get killed by Microsoft?

Microsoft will not kill RAD Basic, as it did not kill LibreOffice or other similar projects. For example, Mono (an open source implementation of Microsoft's .NET Framework), offered a cross platform implementation of .NET/C#. And it did not been killed. In fact, it was bought by Microsoft and it was integrated in .NET ecosystem.