Support for .NET framework on Windows 8

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There are currently log of discussions and confusion in relation to Windows 8 and support for several technologies. These days I was asked about support for .NET 4.0 and .NET 4.5.. So I tried to collect various official information (excluding all internal statements) an put it all together here. First of all, it is important to know that Windows 8 will not support .NET 4.0. Some companies which already invested in .NET 4.0 seem to be scared about this. Fortunately this fact has nothing to do with some technology deprecation (MS never did that without giving support for 10 years (at least as I remember).

More interesting is that .NET Framework 4.5 is an in-place update that replaces .NET Framework 4 (rather than a side-by-side installation). This has nothing to do with Windows 8. NET 4.5 is (designed to be – look here for breaking changes) fully backward compatible with applications built for .NET 4 (.NET 3.5 and .NET 4.5 will be side-by-side). .NET 4.5 is build with version 4.0.30319. This is technically the same version as .NET 4. .NET Devs know that  this practice is used for so called  in-place updates.
So, Windows 8 will be delivered with .NET framework 4.5 and this will by default provide support for .NET 4.0 applications, because 4.5 is technically 4.0 main stream.
Here is a nice overview of .NET delivery at various windows operative systems.

Components and Layers of .NET Framework versions


Posted Mar 29 2012, 09:45 PM by Damir Dobric
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Comments

bhrnjica wrote re: Support for .NET framework on Windows 8
on 03-29-2012 23:00

And just to notice that .NET 3.5 (that means also 3.0 and 2.0) will be install on demand, and not be included in to Windows 8 installation. The reason for that is space, and Microsoft wanted that Windows 8 installation would be as small as possible. So for the first time when some App needs .NET 3.5 windows 8 will popup dialog for downloading and installing .NET 3.5 from the internet.

Damir Dobric wrote re: Support for .NET framework on Windows 8
on 03-30-2012 0:03

Thanks for clarification. But, this is ok, because .NET 4+ profiles will support most of required  .NET features. Everything else can be just installed (instead of 4.0).

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