14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is working not only on the imminent release of .NET Framework 4, but also on expanding support beyond the now-traditional Windows client and server operating system. In this regard, the Redmond giant is hard at work delivering .NET 4 support for its Cloud platform. The promise from the software giant is that customers leveraging Windows Azure will be able to start taking advantage of .NET 4 for their applications in mid-2010.
“As we announced at MIX 2010, .NET 4 will be available in Windows Azure within 90 days of .NET 4 RTM,” a member of the Windows Azure team stated. Microsoft’s next-generation development tools and platform are scheduled for release the coming week. Visual Studio 2010, .NET Framework 4 and Silverlight 4 will all be officially launched on April 12 in a Las Vegas event.
This places availability of .NET Framework 4 RTW (release to web) support for Windows Azure sometime by mid-July 2010. The software giant could, of course, beat its own deadline, but, so far, it has chosen to give itself a little elbow room in order to get .NET4 support on Windows Azure to become a reality.
Fact is that Windows Azure already features .NET Framework 4, but not the RTW milestone. “As part of our preparation for that, the latest operating system build available in Windows Azure contains the .NET 4 RC. Although you cannot use this build to run .NET 4 applications, please let us know if having .NET 4 RC in the build has any effect on your existing applications. One known effect you may see if you’re consuming generic ASP.NET performance counters is that they will report data only on .NET 4 applications. You can instead use the versioned performance counters as documented in KB article 2022138. As always, you can choose which build of the operating system your application will run on in Windows Azure,” the Windows Azure team member stated.
The Cloud platform version that Microsoft is referring to is Windows Azure Guest OS 1.2 (Release 201003-01). The Release went live earlier this week, more precisely on April 5th, 2010, and contains .NET Framework 4.0 RC support. However, as the company stated above, the Windows Azure development environment does not support the .NET 4.0 Framework at this point in time. The purpose of Windows Azure Guest OS 1.2 (Release 201003-01) is that customers test to see whether their applications and services will continue to run under normal parameters while using .NET Framework 4.0 libraries.
Visual Studio 2010 Premium Release Candidate (RC) is available for download here.
Visual Studio 2010 Professional Release Candidate (RC) is available for download here.
Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate Release Candidate (RC) is available for download here.
.NET Framework 4 Release Candidate (RC) is available for download here.
Silverlight 4 Release Candidate (RC) Build 4.0.50303.0 is available for download here.