I would go so far as to say VB.NET vs VB6 is the same as comparing any flavor of C++ to C#. It doesn't really make a lot of sense, even though they share the same pedigree.
VB.NET is effectively a different language entirely. It's programming .NET with VB-like syntax, not the VB language running on .NET (in my mind, anyways)
Ahh, but the goal is to find another language with "such a broad chasm between two versions of the language." It seems I can't win if people decided that my examples are so far apart that they are no longer two versions of the same language. ;)
What about Old S v.s New S? S v.s S4? S vs. R?
What about D1 and D2 of the D programming language?
Classic awk vs. nawk?
Honestly, I could go on. I think the person I'm responding to really doesn't know much about programming language histories.
VB.NET is effectively a different language entirely. It's programming .NET with VB-like syntax, not the VB language running on .NET (in my mind, anyways)