it's possible that the people i was talking to meant that, but i took them to mean something much stronger, that there are things that were easy and fluent in vb6 that are clumsy in dhtml. and i'd like to know what those things were, but text is not a good medium for that

christine lavin wrote a song about your interpretation https://mojim.com/usy144575x1x8.htm in which she says

    The reality of me
    cannot compete
    with the dreams you have of her.
    And the love you've given me
    is not as sweet
    as the feelings that she stirs.
    And so you turn away
    and you say that you're sorry,
    But you must pursue this dream,
    this improbable dream.
    Though things have not been bad,
    you can't say you've had
    Quite as good a time as it first seemed.

some software that could have been written is always better than all software that has actually been written