Is Your Clarion 6.0 App Holding You Hostage?

Why Cloud, Why Now?

Clarion 6.0 had its run. It helped countless developers build line-of-business apps quickly, and for its time, it was efficient. But holding onto Clarion today is like trying to run a business on an old Blackberry in a world of modern smartphones.

With Windows 10 reaching end-of-life soon and Windows 11 taking over, this means that Clarion 6.0 apps can no longer be supported if you're moving to Windows 11. Maintaining legacy software like Clarion 6.0 is becoming increasingly unsustainable from both a technical and operational perspective. GAP Migration's Clarion Upgrade Companion is our automated tool for moving you from Clarion to .NET and beyond. 

Clarion 6.0: The Hidden Costs

1. 32-bit in a 64-bit World
   Clarion 6.0 applications are strictly 32-bit, and Windows 11 is fully optimized for 64-bit. Yes, you can run 32-bit apps on modern systems but performance suffers, and compatibility is spotty. More importantly, you’re not getting the benefit of modern OS-level performance enhancements.
   
   
2. DLL Dependency Chaos
   Clarion apps rely heavily on specific runtime DLLs. But Windows 11 often doesn’t play nicely with them, especially if they aren’t registered correctly or have missing dependencies. It turns simple deployments into fragile house-of-cards situations, requiring constant manual intervention and troubleshooting.
   
   
3. Stability? Not So Much
   General protection faults (GPFs) and runtime crashes are increasingly common in environments Clarion was never designed to operate in. Debugging these errors often leads you down a rabbit hole of outdated documentation and unsupported libraries.
   
   
4. Debugging = Archaeology
   Let’s be honest: maintaining a Clarion app often means reverse-engineering code written by someone who left the company ten years ago. Documentation is sparse, tooling is outdated, and the original developers may be long gone. Bug reports can be as vague as “It stopped working,” and fixing them becomes a guessing game. This is both frustrating and it’s expensive. You’re paying senior dev rates for investigative work that modern stacks can automate or eliminate entirely.
   
   
5. You're Losing Developer Talent
   Modern developers don’t want to work in legacy toolchains. If your stack includes Clarion, you're narrowing your hiring pool to a niche skill set that gets smaller every year. Even internal team members may be hesitant to take on Clarion maintenance; it’s not exactly a resume-builder. That means burnout, bottlenecks, and stalled initiatives. And let’s be real: if the only person who knows the system is a year away from retirement, you’re already in trouble.

Why Modernization Isn’t Just "Nice to Have"

Let’s pivot from the problems to the possibilities.

Think Beyond a One-to-One Rewrite

Modernization doesn’t mean recreating your Clarion app screen-for-screen in a newer language. It’s an opportunity to revisit architecture, improve UX, and finally integrate that third-party service your users keep requesting.

A good modernization project also gives you a chance to:

• Modularize your app into microservices or service layers.
• Introduce automated testing and CI/CD pipelines.
• Improve security posture with SSO, MFA, and cloud-based identity providers.
• Align with DevOps practices for easier deployments and rollback strategies.

This will help you build something more scalable, testable, and adaptable.

Rethink the Role of the App

Many Clarion-built apps were developed before APIs and cloud platforms were mainstream. Today, business applications are no longer isolated. They’re expected to integrate with CRMs, ERPs, analytics platforms, and more.

Migrating off Clarion opens the door to:

• Real-time data syncing with modern systems.
• Self-service portals for customers or internal teams.
• Mobile access and responsive design.
• Role-based access controls and advanced audit logging.

Don’t Wait for a Crisis

Modernization's biggest benefit is aligning your technology with your business goals. If your application is holding you back from moving faster, integrating smarter, or delivering more value to your customers… it’s time to move forward.

Clarion 6.0 did its job. Now it’s time to let it retire.

How GAP Migrations Can Help

At GAP, we’re not just migration experts, we’re transformation partners. Our Clarion Upgrade Companion solution accelerates the migration process using automation, but we don’t stop there.

We help you:

• Prioritize features based on business impact.
• Modernize your architecture for cloud-native deployment.
• Ensure your new codebase is maintainable and extensible.
• Support your team with onboarding, training, and documentation.

Because this isn’t just about ditching Clarion. It’s about building something that will serve your business for the next 10–15 years. 

Get started:

• Schedule a consultation – Talk to an Engineer discuss your migration plan.
• How does Clarion compare to .NET Apps– Read about it in our blog post.
• Want some insights into your Clarion 6.0 code - Our FREE code analysis tool, ByteInsight, will give you some clarity on the complexity of your Clarion app.