What are the pros and cons of an automatic translation tool vs. manually rewriting the application from scratch?
• The decision of using a code translator vs. rewriting the application from scratch should be based mainly (if not exclusively) on the balance of benefits and costs. If you have unlimited time, skill, and money, the re-writing approach is undeniably the way to go. In most real-world scenarios, however, you need to go to the market as soon as possible, have money constraints, don’t have a team of experienced .NET developers, and can’t afford to scrutinize each and every line of code and/or write thousand of unit tests to ensure that the VB.NET application behaves like the original one. In some cases, the time-to-market factor shadows all other considerations. For example, if the VB6 application doesn’t run well under Microsoft Vista – because of incompatible 3rd-party ActiveX controls or issues with Vista’s security model – you might lose an unbearable number of sales opportunities until the full rewriting process is completed. Another factor that should be weighed accurately is whethe
