Must be downloaded

Jun 11, 2010 06:43 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft has simplified access to the documentation accompanying development resources designed for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4. In this sense, the Redmond company is now allowing developers leveraging the latest iteration of the Windows software development kit to choose whether they actually want to download all the documentation for the SDK on their local machine or view it exclusively online. According to the software giant, the change introduced in version 7.1 of the Windows SDK was catalyzed by input from customers.

“We've received feedback about previous versions of the Windows SDK related to the large size of the download. To partially mitigate this, the latest SDK now gives users the choice of whether to download the documentation to their machine for offline viewing or to view the documentation strictly online. You may notice that there are quite a few sets of docs that can be selected,” a member of the Windows SDK team revealed.

Microsoft updated the Windows SDK at the end of May 2010, in a move designed to tailor the resource to the latest version of its development platform and tools. As of the first half of April 2010, devs can grab both Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 and start building new projects. Version 7.1 of the Windows SDK, adapted to Windows 7 and .NET 4, can still be used to target older versions of the .NET Framework.

The Windows SDK team representative posted details on how to download the documentation: “Choose ‘Manage Help Settings’ from within Start Menu->Microsoft Windows SDK v7.1->Documentation. This will launch the Help Library Manager. Choose ‘Install Content from Online.’ At the bottom of the list, there is the ‘Windows SDK 7.1’ node. Choose Add and then Update. Once the download and installation is complete, the documentation can be viewed by selecting Windows SDK Documentation while in offline mode.”

Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 7.1 is available for download here.

Visual Studio 2010 Premium is available for download here.
Visual Studio 2010 Professional is available for download here.
Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate is available for download here.
Visual Studio Test Professional 2010 is available for download here.

.NET Framework 4 RTM is available for download here.
Follow me on Twitter @MariusOiaga.