Microsoft .NET Framework xx - which one?

[occam]

I see today that 3 versions of MS .NET Framework have been updated
- version 3.5
- version 3.0 SP1
- version 2.0 SP1

Do I need any of these with Vista? What for? Any why are there almost as
many falvours as Vista, co-existing at the same time?

Thanks for any clear explanations

 

[Gary Mount]

There is a good video on Microsoft's Channel 9 that may help explain why
multiple versions exist.
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=369588#369588

 

[mayayana]

I see today that 3 versions of MS .NET Framework have been updated
- version 3.5
- version 3.0 SP1
- version 2.0 SP1

Do I need any of these with Vista? What for? Any why are there almost as
many falvours as Vista, co-existing at the same time?

.Net is a programming system that Microsoft came up
with in 2001. It's sort of Microsoft's version of Java. Like
Java, software written in .Net needs a large collection of
support files, which Microsoft calls a "framework". (In Java
it's called a "virtual machine".) Without those files, the
software can't run.

Since 2001 there have been several versions of the
..Net system and therefore the .Net framework. They
are not all entirely compatible. So if you have any .Net
software installed you may need one or more of the
frameworks. You may not have any .Net software. It's
not very commonly used for standard "desktop" software.
It's used more for things like "web-based" software on
corporate intranets, again like Java. But there are a few
programs written in .Net for the desktop.

So, do you need the framworks? Maybe. Maybe not.
If you don't mind 100MB+ of possibly superfluous extra
stuff on your system then you can have all the frameworks
and not worry about it. If you want to have a lean system
for some reason, you can try uninstalling all frameworks
and then see if all of your software still works OK. The
sign that you are trying to run .Net software without the
required framework is that you see a message saying
something like, "mscoree.dll was not found".

 

[occam]

.Net is a programming system that Microsoft came up
with in 2001. It's sort of Microsoft's version of Java. Like
Java, software written in .Net needs a large collection of
support files, which Microsoft calls a "framework". (In Java
it's called a "virtual machine".) Without those files, the
software can't run.

Since 2001 there have been several versions of the
.Net system and therefore the .Net framework. They
are not all entirely compatible. So if you have any .Net
software installed you may need one or more of the
frameworks. You may not have any .Net software. It's
not very commonly used for standard "desktop" software.
It's used more for things like "web-based" software on
corporate intranets, again like Java. But there are a few
programs written in .Net for the desktop.

So, do you need the framworks? Maybe. Maybe not.
If you don't mind 100MB+ of possibly superfluous extra
stuff on your system then you can have all the frameworks
and not worry about it. If you want to have a lean system
for some reason, you can try uninstalling all frameworks
and then see if all of your software still works OK. The
sign that you are trying to run .Net software without the
required framework is that you see a message saying
something like, "mscoree.dll was not found".

Thanks. I see I have .NET 1.1 installed, but no later versions.

Obviously I do not need 2.0, 3.0 or 3.5 - else I would have seen an
error or two.

 

[AlexB]

You do not have to worry about it. I think Vista Business and Ultimate come
with
v 2.0. At least this is what appears on your start menu. In fact it may be
higher.

All those versions are for developers. People who work with new versions of
C# v3.0 and Linq classes have to upgrade their .NET framework to I believe
3.0 or higher. I think the actual version is 3.1. There is something called
..NET 3.5. Even developers do not have to keep this jamboree of numbers on
the ready. If they try to install the newest version of Visual Studio 2008
(which is almost like Vista versus XP for VS2005) the install will
automatically provide the prerequisites.

On the very remote, theoretical level some exotic software packages may not
work with lower .NET version because there will be no support for them in
the machine. By the time such applications become mainstream .NET of that
grade will be a commonplace.

If it is still unclear, I will try to provide direct references to MS
developers sites. It is a hard stuff for a person who never seen it.

 

[occam]

Thanks AlexB, this is sufficient explanation for now.

 

[Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]]

Its pretty simple, certain applications target certain versions of the .NET
Framework runtime.

 

[occam]

Its pretty simple, certain applications target certain versions of the .NET
Framework runtime.

Yes - that may be simple. But very comforting.

Which ones target which - is what i would like to know? I appear to have
1.1, but am not sure if I need to keep it.

The only option open to me appears to be to uninstall it, and see if I
get error prompts.

 

[occam]

Its pretty simple, certain applications target certain versions of the .NET
Framework runtime.

Yes - that may be simple. But /not/ very comforting.

Which ones target which - is what i would like to know? I appear to have
1.1, but am not sure if I need to keep it.

The only option open to me appears to be to uninstall it, and see if I
get error prompts.

 

[Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]]

The application would specify that during setup and all you would have to do
is download and install it.

 

[AlexB]

If you keep worried about it, go to MS website and download any version you
want including the latest.

You can do it no questions asked. The only "trouble" is that you may slow
down your system a bit with some software you will never use or a
significant fraction thereof.

 

[DanS]

You do not have to worry about it. I think Vista Business and Ultimate
come with
v 2.0. At least this is what appears on your start menu. In fact it
may be higher.

All those versions are for developers.

I didn't see anywhere that it said those were for developers.

Some fixes for v3.0...

FIX: You may experience slow performance when you run a Windows
Communication Foundation application
FIX: A memory leak occurs when you send many messages by using the
NetMsmq transport in the .NET Framework 3.0
FIX: Error message in FIPS-compliant systems when you use Windows
Communication Foundation to serialize generic types: "This implementation
is not part of the Windows Platform FIPS validated cryptographic
algorithms"
FIX: You may experience issues with Windows Communication Foundation peer
channel connections

Those all sound like runtime fixes to me.

Some v2.1 SP1 fixes...

FIX: You may receive a "SerializationException" exception when you use a
class that implements the "INotifyPropertyChanged" interface in an
application that is built on the .NET Framework 2.0.
FIX: Error message when you run an ASP.NET 2.0 Web application that is
built on the .NET Framework 2.0: "The constructor to deserialize an
object of type '<custom object>' was not found"
FIX: Error message if you use the "CspParameters" class to
programmatically set a password in an application that is built on the
..NET Framework 2.0: "Incorrect PIN"
FIX: You may notice that the memory load is very high when you run an
application that is built on the .NET Framework 2.0
IX: Error message when you run a client application that is built on the
..NET Framework 2.0: "The request was cancelled. An underlying connection
that was expected to be open was closed"

Those too sound like runtime fixes to me.

 

[DanS]

I didn't see anywhere that it said those were for developers.

Some fixes for v3.0...

<CORRECTION>
Some fixes for v3.0 SP1...

FIX: You may experience slow performance when you run a Windows
Communication Foundation application

<SNIP>