NavList:

George, you wrote:

"One was BC7, intended for use with DOS systems, which came with some
Awful Warnings about the damage that might ensue if it was used
elsewhere. I didn't find out if those warnings were justified;
probably not, though."

 

The awful warnings simply refer to Microsoft warranties about the functionality of the old DOS code. In ordinary words, they're saying "we don't guarantee that this old DOS software will work under Windows XP, and if it doesn't, don't blame us". Of course, they hired a lawyer to write it up in proper legal-ese. Regardless of the warning, old DOS QuickBasic/BC7 does indeed work in Windows XP, and it works quite well. The only exception that I am aware of is that certain errors (e.g. divide by zero) render the interface unusable and you have to quit and re-launch it, but you don't lose your work.

 

Just so we're clear, this "BC7" *IS* the old QuickBasic that you learned to use many years ago. The last version marketed under the trademark "QuickBasic" was, I believe, version 4.5. They released later versions as "Professional Basic" and BC7 (Basic Compiler 7) is simply version 7 of QuickBasic --same product, different marketing name. The IDE is identical. The excellent online help is identical. The syntax is almost exactly identical. There are a few nice compiler and linker enhancements that mean nothing today but mattered quite a bit back in 1990.

 

I agree with Craig (Zed) that you may want to consider one of the modern Microsoft Basics which are available for free now. But if you really want your old QuickBasic, you have it now. Like you, I really liked QuickBasic, and I used it just a few days ago for a "quick" project.