Having started my programming career with a small little program called "edlin" which eventually evolved into something more recognizable, "edit.exe" I can say that .NET is a welcomed edition of VB.  

   Once proceedure programming began its descention with the onset of "OBJ", the fundamentals of BASIC as a language have stayed the same.  Even in BASIC's most evolved state, .NET there are trace similarities between GW-BASIC and .NET.  Obviously the Syntax and paradigm has changed but the core structure has remained the same. For that I am grateful.