From: Michael Shigorin Date: 2007-07-10T05:51:21+09:00 Subject: [JT] Ruby: an original name for Visual Basic! Hello, stumbled upon this one while googling something else: Visual Basic - bought as Ruby from Alan Cooper in 1988 However, in March of 1988, I showed this prototype to Bill Gates , and he immediately saw its potential. He declared that it was "cool" and that it would have significant impact across their entire product line. Bill said he wanted to buy it, and over the next few months we hammered out a deal. The decision was made to delay shipping Ruby and to convert it from a shell construction set for all users of Windows, to a visual programming language for professional programmers by adding QuickBasic. At first, I was very frustrated by Microsoft's decision, and argued against it. However, I was impressed by the power of the eventual product, and soon became an enthusiastic Visual Basic supporter. from Cooper.com: Why I am called "the Father of Visual Basic" http://www.cooper.com/alan/father_of_vb.html --- http://www.mcmillan.cx/innovation.html#vb lol? :) PS: cross-post, please reply to only one ML. -- ---- WBR, Michael Shigorin ------ Linux.Kiev http://www.linux.kiev.ua/