14 DAY TRIAL // In a move designed to clarify the way that the latest iterations of the Windows client and server platforms deal with older releases of .NET, Microsoft has underlined that it does not support version 1.1 of the .NET Framework on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Microsoft’s David Carrington has talked about supportability, a concept that involves the support the company is offering for certain products but only in relation to other ones, and not as standalone software.
.NET Framework 1.1 “was released in mid-2003 and was never intended to be installed or supported with products that were not even in the early planning stages at that time. Customers are encouraged to test their .NET applications with the latest .NET Framework releases and update as appropriate,” Carrington states.
In terms of support, the software giant revealed earlier this year that .NET Framework 3.5 SP1, .NET Framework 4 and later versions of the .NET Framework would be treated as Components of the Windows operating system going forward. As far as supportability is concerned, customers can expect Microsoft to offer support for the .NET Framework in relation to supported versions of Windows platforms.
“While somewhat related to Support Lifecycle timeframes or even compatibility, supportability defines what software releases will be supported by Microsoft in combination with other software releases. Broadly speaking, supportability means that Microsoft will support certain products together,” Carrington adds.
In order to better understand supportability, Carrington has provided a few examples, including Exchange Server 2010. The recently launched Exchange Server 2010 is designed to play nice with modern releases of Windows, but, despite being supported, it is not set up to work with Windows 2000 Server or Windows XP. The same is valid for Internet Explorer 8, which is not supported on Windows NT.
.NET Framework 4 RTM is available for download here.
The RTM edition of .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 (SP1) is available for download here.