There are new deployment options in .NET. "Zero deployment" is a bit
misleading since if the code where never deployed, nobody could run it
(except maybe the developer)
If you are using pure .NET managed code, the only prerequisite on the target
machine is the .NET framework. You can actually copy the files over and
things will run just fine. .NET components do not require registration, and
multiple versions of the same component can exist on the machine if
different applications require the different versions. The only exception to
this "no registration required" bit is when you want to create a shared
assembly instead of a local (private) assembly. Local library assemblies
(managed DLLs) exist in the same directory as the app that uses them by
default. Shared assemblies are installed into a special subdirectory of the
system called the GAC (global assembly cache).
The registry class is supplied because there is a lot of information in the
registry that you might want to read or write. If you are using older COM
components from .NET, then your code will also need access to the registry,
so in essence, it isn't like the registry is no longer needed at all.
There is also another thing called "No Touch Deployment", which allows you
to place your application and its various components up on a server, and
have clients load the executable from a URL to that server. The clients will
automatically download the latest application files and execute them without
requiring an install. There are some limitations, security precautions, and
caveats. Chris Sells wrote a few very good articles on this topic. Try doing
a search for this on MSDN or Google.
In addition, the next version of .NET and Windows will have a few more
deployment options that further ease the pain of application deployment.
Among them are the self-updating options of "click once" deployment, and
rich client applications written in XML.
-Rob Teixeira [MVP]
