14 DAY TRIAL // In the first half of April 2010, I was telling you that Microsoft was gearing up to tailor the software development kit for Windows 7 in accordance with the release of Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4. Well, version 7.1 of the Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 is now available for download. Via the Microsoft Download Center, the Redmond-based company is offering two versions of the SDK, in either ISO or Web Setup format. Developers can, of course, grab the release immediately, and start taking advantage of the enhancements introduced since the previous version, which was delivered along with Windows 7 in 2009.
According to the software giant, the latest release of the SDK will enable developers to install it and build applications for the following operating systems: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows XPSP3, and Windows Server 2003 R2. But just because the release is labeled Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 7.1, it does not mean that devs are limited to .NET 4.
The SDK supports build apps for .NET Framework 2.0 (SP2), 3.0 (SP2), 3.5 (SP1), as well as 4. And, of course, while it was adapted to the RTM version of .NET 4, the SDK also plays nice with Visual Studio 2010 RTM, and previous versions such as 2005 and 2008.
A member of the Windows SDK team enumerated “a few key features about this Software Development Kit (SDK):
• Smaller/Faster: at less than 600MB, this SDK is less than half the size of the previous SDK, producing a faster install with a smaller on disk footprint
• Cleaner Setup: setup screens have been grouped into native, managed, and common buckets to help you more easily choose the components you need
• VC++ 2010 Compilers (32 & 64-bit): use the new C++ compilers and CRT that also ship in Visual Studio 2010 for improved run-time and design-time performance
• Microsoft Help System 1.0: the new help system introduced with Visual Studio 2010 that enables you to view documentation either online or offline and selectively choose which documentation to maintain offline
• .NET Framework 4 Tools and Reference Assemblies: use tools and reference assemblies updated specifically for .NET Framework 4 development
• MSBuild: support for .NET Framework 4 MSBuild in the SDK Command line for building native and managed applications using new Visual Studio 2010 project files (such as the vcxproj file for C++ applications).”
Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 7.1 is available for download here.