Instead of doing RAD in VB, do RAD using C++ !!

Unfortunately, the execution is deeply flawed.

Based on Borlands Pascal / Delphi product, it uses many of the Pascal components that ship with Delphi.

It therefore suffers from irritating Pascalisms.

Add to this an unstable and buggy IDE
( just read the complaints
on Borlands own c++builder forums ) and a product that is hamstrung by a small and poorly funded development team,
and you have a tragically and deeply flawed implementation of an
alternative to VB.

To make matters worse, Borland have effectively increased the
price. Many features have been shifted into the Enterprise edition.

Borland seem to have effectively abandoned this product in favour
of Delphi ( cash cow ) and JBuilder ( a strong contender in the Java RAD field )

Try this if you like.
( Borland have a download able trial somehere on their vast and
poorly organised site )

Then weep for what might have been and move on to Visual Studio .NET