But it has preserved a lot of the simplicity of the basic language.
I think it’s biggest value is that it offers a bridge for business users who’s only programming experience is some VBA to a more sane and modern language.
That's very true. Either C# or VB.NET, you're programming the NET Framework. All you can do in C# you can do in VB.NET, and even there's some features that are better implemented in VB.NET, like Type.Missing https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/eric_carter/2004/04/15/type...
Of course any language with "Basic" in its name will be look down, but in today's NET there's no objective reasons to do so. Nowadays, VB is a better choice than C# to develop in-house business management software.
That is a bit dated, C# fixed that problem many years ago [1]
But there are still instances where the VB.net syntax is nicer than c#, for instance date litterals, or array litterals:
C# foreach(var x in new string[] {"A", "B", "C"})
VB For Each x in {"A", "B", "C"}
Also switch statements in C# are horrendous. But there are also instances where C# has a better syntax, like "x=>x+1" is way more elegant and practical than "Function(x) x+1".
But I think the writing is on the wall. VB will go the way of Winforms, i.e. sort of supported but nothing more.
https://www.hanselman.com/blog/NETAndWebAssemblyIsThisTheFut...
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/webdev/2018/02/06/blazor-ex...