>>Companies trust the C language because the specifications are not controlled by any one company. I'm betting that few large companies will commit to widespread use of a language that is not standardized, particularly if they compete with MS.
>
>MS VC++ is not standard. Who is the market leader?

I presume from your question that MS is the market leader.


I did a quick search for C++ standardization and found these:


http://www.cis.nctu.edu.tw/c++/C++FAQ-English/big-picture.html

[6.11] Is C++ standardized?
Yes.

C++ has been standardized by ANSI (The American National Standards Organization), BSI (The British Standards Institute), DIN (The German National Standards Organization), several other national standards bodies, and ISO (The International Standards Organization). The ISO standard has been finalized and adopted by unanimous vote Nov 14, 1997.

The ANSI-C++ committee is called "X3J16". The ISO C++ standards group is called "WG21". ... On November 14, 1997, the standard was approved by a unanimous vote of the countries that had representatives present in Morristown. Final ratification by two dozen countries is expected by March 1998. [Completed August 1998]


http://www.x3.org/tc_home/j16.htm

J16 - Programming Language C++
Technical Committee J16 is responsible for the technical development of the standard for the C++ programming language. The goal of this project is to make it possible for C++ programs to be highly portable among different operating systems and across a wide variety of computers. ... This technical committee is the U.S. TAG to ISO/IEC JTC 1 SC22/WG21 and provides recommendations on U.S. positions to the JTC 1 TAG.

J6 Officers: Chairman - Stephen D. Clamage, Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Call for Volunteers - J16 International Representative - Second Call Closes December 17, 1999


I did the same search for visual basic standardization and found zip.

So there is a C++ standard and on-going work on the standard. Presumably MS will tell you exactly where VC++ diverges from that standard. You can choose whether to write standard C++ when you use the tool.

VB is totally different. No standard, no attempt to standardize, and Microsoft is the only arbiter of what it should do.

Get my point?

Peter