Microsoft please install .NET 2.0 on all PCs

[Guest]

| Yes, requiring a 23MB download may seem prohibitively
| expensive... IF your application is the only .NET application installed
| on a users machine. But consider how much space you're saving the user
| if you and 20 other applications all install the bits of .NET framework
| they need as separate copies...

Unfortunately, not having .NET installed on every PC is a huge problem for
any vendor wishing to sell .NET software. This is by far our biggest
complaint about Microsoft, and we are Microsoft fans. It's inconceivable
that Microsoft would invest so much in the excellent .NET platform and then
fail to ensure that it's installed on every PC. Our only guess is that
Microsoft is leery of forcing an install because then they may be also forced
to install the JavaVM.

We have spent the past few years (as part of Mini-Tools and my previous
company) dealing with the .NET issue. Now that the issue of having .NET 1.1
installed is finally waning, here we go again with .NET 2.0. We are unable
to upgrade and take advantage of the many new features and bug fixes in VS
2005 and .NET 2.0 because (from our data) less than 10% of our target
customers have .NET 2.0 installed, and less than half of those without are
willing to download the framework. Last week I bought a new HP PC for my
father at Best Buy, and even though it's seven months after the release of
..NET 2.0, only .NET 1.1 was pre-installed. As informed programmers, we all
know that .NET 2.0 is a benign & beneficial download, but try telling a
customer on dialup that they need to download a 20+MB file just to run our
program. We are losing downloads, evaluations and sales because of our
support for .NET.

Microsoft, if you are listening, the single most important thing that you
can do to help ISVs supporting the Microsoft .NET platform is to force
install .NET 2.0 on every PC as part of the next Windows update. Pretty
please with sugar on top!!

 

[Kevin Spencer]

I have 2 words for you: Windows Update.

--
HTH,

Kevin Spencer
Microsoft MVP
Professional Numbskull

The man who questions opinions is wise.
The man who quarrels with facts is a fool.

 

[Kevin Spencer]

It will also be an integral part of Vista.

--
HTH,

Kevin Spencer
Microsoft MVP
Professional Numbskull

The man who questions opinions is wise.
The man who quarrels with facts is a fool.

 

[Guest]

I have 2 words for you: Windows Update.

Yes, exactly! If only Microsoft would force .NET 2.0 to be installed
automatically during Windows Update, this would not be a problem.

But on our fully legal WindowsXP machines with automatic Windows Update
running, .NET 2.0 is still not installed after 7 months availability. In
addition, our net stats and recent surveys show that less than 10% of our
customers have .NET 2.0 installed, so obviously it's not being installed for
the general population either. And it appears that .NET 2.0 is not included
on new PCs either.

So I agree that Windows Update is the right way to accomplish this,
Microsoft needs to make it happen.

As for .NET 2.0 being standard in Windows Vista, that won't help in
practical terms for at least 1-2 years after availability due to the time it
takes the masses to adopt a new OS, which means this problem won't be solved
until at least 2009.

I'll say it again: Microsoft should force install .NET 2.0 as part of the
next automatic Windows update. Thanks for listening.