Classic VB is a term coined by Karl E. Peterson to define what he also refers to as VB.COM. (vs. VB.NET) in his Petition to Microsoft on March 31 2005. Karl built a website for that petition at http://classicvb.org/.

Classic VB refers to versions of Visual Basic that were based on a foundation of Microsoft's Component Object Model (or COM). Specifically those versions were v4.0, v5.0, and v6.0 and they included support for the popular ActiveX control technology for creating Reusable Software Components and more specifically Third Party Software Components. VB v7.0 was named VB.NET and is based on Microsoft's .NET Framework.