Software distribution strategy for .NET 2 trialware applications

[schoenfeld1]

I have ported various trialware products to .NET 2, but I lack
confidence in distributing these products online as almost no users
have .NET 2 framework installed. What is the recommended strategy for
solving this framework deployment problem for trialware products?

#1: Ship it with the application? (extra 22 mb download)

#2: Force user to download from the Microsoft website? (no static
link, user has to follow instructions, 50% of time will just lose
interest or fail)

#3: Avoid using .NET 2 altogether? (seems to be the only choice)

Microsoft should be aware that the majority of trialware developers
I've talked to are not making use of .NET 2 for this reason. They are
taking option 3.

I would love to use .NET 2 as it is a superior platform that makes the
code structure cleaner, better and faster (with generics/etc), solves
all those annoying winform theming problems and includes many new,
great and cutting-edge features. However, it seems Microsoft are not
proactively seeking to get .NET 2 runtime installed on users machines,
and seem to be expecting that ISVs to do this job for them?

Microsoft management need to stop acting like Sun and stop treating
..NET like java.

Whatever happened to the "developers, developers, developers,
developers.."?

 

[V]

Same problem here

Not with trialware though... but, it makes it so hard to develop smart
client based applications which can be delivered over the internet

Regards,
Vaibhav

 

[Henrik Erlandsson]

I point directly to a static link either at Microsoft or at my website
where the framework is located. This link is "launched" when the setup
does not find 2.0 and then asks if you want to download it.

Of course I am taking a chance here but I think people are more
interested to download "the rest" when they already has download the
main application. They might be scared by a full 30 MB download in the
first place so I think I win in number of total downloads when just
pointing to main application and then has 2.0 as a launch requirement in
the setup.

best regards,

Henrik

 

[John Vottero]

I have ported various trialware products to .NET 2, but I lack
confidence in distributing these products online as almost no users
have .NET 2 framework installed. What is the recommended strategy for
solving this framework deployment problem for trialware products?

#1: Ship it with the application? (extra 22 mb download)

I wouldn't reccommend it, why download 22MB if the user already has it?

#2: Force user to download from the Microsoft website? (no static
link, user has to follow instructions, 50% of time will just lose
interest or fail)

There is a static link and, I think you can make it very painless. .NET V2
includes MSBuild and a GenerateBootstrapper task that can look for V2 of the
framework and it will download it and install it in it's not there.

Google GenerateBootstrapper or, try this link:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms164294(VS.80).aspx

#3: Avoid using .NET 2 altogether? (seems to be the only choice)

The worst choice.