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Versions Microsoft started development on the .NET Framework in the late 90s originally under the name of Next Generation Windows Services (NGWS). By late 2000 the first beta versions of .NET 1.0 were being released. Version Name Version Number Release Date 1.0 Beta 1 1.0.????.0 2000-11 1.0 Beta 2 1.0.2914.0 2001-06-20 1.0 RTM 1.0.3705.0 2002-01-05 1.0 SP1 1.0.3705.209 2002-03-19 1.0 SP2 1.0.3705.288 2002-08-07 1.0 SP3 1.0.3705.6018 2004-08-31 1.1 RTM 1.1.4322.573 2003-04-01 1.1 SP1 1.1.4322.2032 2004-08-30 1.1 SP1 (Windows Server 2003 Version) 1.1.4322.2300 2005-03-30 2.0 RTM 2.0.50727.42 2005-11-07 3.0 RTM 3.0.4506.30 2006-11-06 .NET Framework 1.0 This is the first release of the .NET Framework that was released on February 13, 2002. It is available on its own as a redistributable package or in a software development kit. It is also part of the first release of Microsoft Visual Studio .NET (also known as Visual Studio .NET 2002). .NET Framework 1.1 This is the first major .NET Framework upgrade. It is available on its own as a redistributable package or in a software development kit. It is also part of the second release of Microsoft Visual Studio .NET (released as Visual Studio .NET 2003). This is the first version of the .NET Framework to be included as part of the Windows operating system - it is part of Windows Server 2003. Windows Server 2003 originally shipped with the 1.1 RTM version. Changes since 1.0 · Built-in support for mobile ASP.NET controls. Previously available as an add-on for .NET Framework, now part of the framework. · Security changes - enable Windows Forms assemblies to execute in a semi-trusted manner from the Internet, and enable Code Access Security in ASP.NET applications. · Built-in support for ODBC and Oracle databases. Previously available as an add-on for .NET Framework 1.0, now part of the framework. · .NET Compact Framework - a version of the .NET Framework for small devices. · Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) support. · Numerous API changes. For a detailed list, see GotDotNet: API Changes between versions of the .NET Framework. .NET Framework 2.0 · Released with Visual Studio .NET 2005, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and BizTalk 2006. · The 2.0 Redistributable Package can be downloaded for free from Microsoft. · The 2.0 Software Development Kit (SDK) can be downloaded for free from Microsoft. · It is included as part of Visual Studio 2005 and Microsoft SQL Server 2005. · Version 2.0 is the last version with support for Windows 2000 .NET Framework 2.0 shipped with Windows Server 2003 R2 (not installed by default). Changes since 1.1 · Numerous API changes. For a detailed list, see GotDotNet: API Changes between versions of the .NET Framework. · A new hosting API for native applications wishing to host an instance of the .NET runtime. The new API gives a fine grain control on the behavior of the runtime with regards to multithreading, memory allocation, assembly loading and more (detailed reference). It was initially developed to efficiently host the runtime in Microsoft SQL Server, which implements its own scheduler and memory manager. · Full 64-bit support for both the x64 and the IA64 hardware platforms. · Language support for Generics built directly into the .NET CLR. · Many additional and improved ASP.NET web controls. · New data controls with declarative data binding. · New personalization features for ASP.NET, such as support for themes, skins and webparts. · .NET Micro Framework - a version of the .NET Framework related to the Smart Personal Objects Technology initiative more.... .NET Framework 3.0 Architecture of the .NET Framework 3.0 .NET Framework 3.0, formerly called WinFX[4], includes a new set of managed code APIs that are an integral part of Windows Vista and Windows Server "Longhorn" operating systems. It is also available for Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003 as a download. There are no major architectural changes included with this release; .NET Framework 3.0 includes version 2.0 of the Common Language Runtime. .NET Framework 3.0 consists of four major new components: · Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), formerly code-named Avalon; a new user interface subsystem and API based on XML and vector graphics, which will make use of 3D computer graphics hardware and Direct3D technologies. See WPF SDK for developer articles and documentation on WPF. · Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), formerly code-named Indigo; a service-oriented messaging system which allows programs to interoperate locally or remotely similar to web services. · Windows Workflow Foundation (WWF) allows for building of task automation and integrated transactions using workflows. · Windows CardSpace (WCS), formerly code-named InfoCard; a software component which securely stores a person's digital identities and provides a unified interface for choosing the identity for a particular transaction, such as logging in to a website. .NET Framework 3.5 In an interview with Channel 9, Jason Zander, general manager of the .NET Framework team at Microsoft, discussed the version of the framework that will follow version 3.0.Tentatively titled "version 3.5", this version will include a new compiler that will support new features such as Language Integrated Query (LINQ), as well as new language features in C# and VB.NET. This version of the framework is slated to be included with the version of Visual Studio following the 2005 release (Codenamed Orcas). .NET vs. Java and the J2EE The CLI and C# have many similarities to Sun's JVM and Java. They are strong competitors. Both are based on a virtual machine model that hides the details of the computer hardware on which their programs run. Both use their own intermediate byte-code, Microsoft calling theirs Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) and Sun Java bytecode. On .NET, the byte-code is always JIT-compiled: with Java, the byte-code can be either interpreted or JIT-compiled. Both provide extensive class libraries that address many common programming requirements, and both address many security issues that are present in other approaches. The namespaces provided in the .NET Framework closely resemble the platform packages in Java EE API Specification both in style and invocation. .NET in its complete form (Microsoft's implementation) is currently only fully available on Windows platforms, whereas Java is fully available on many platforms. .NET was built from the ground-up to support multiple programming languages while targeting Microsoft Windows, while the Java platform was initially built to support only the Java language on many operating system platforms under the slogan, "Write once, run anywhere." Microsoft's reference implementation of .NET is closed source, whereas Sun's reference implementation of Java is becoming GPL (including the class library, the compiler, the virtual machine, and the various tools associated with the Java Platform). However, the third-party Mono project is developing an open source implementation of subsets of the .NET Framework, including the Common Language Runtime, for the Linux, Solaris, Mac OS, and Windows platforms. The current version supports version 1.1 of .NET, and the project is planning full support for 2.0. Meanwhile, the Java Virtual Machine environment is host to many alternative languages not supported by Sun. Criticism Some concerns and criticisms relating to the .NET Framework include: · With the introduction of the .NET framework, the old Visual Basic language was replaced by the Visual Basic .NET language, which caused controversy among transitioning developers. · Several backward and forward incompatibilities exist between .NET 1.0, .NET 1.1, and .NET. These are well-documented however, and mostly include security fixes changes in the underlying implementation (such as the GetHashCode() implementation), as well as marking many methods as Obsolete. Additionally, the framework allows running different versions side-by-side, to alleviate problems of version incompatibility. · Applications running in a managed environment such as the Microsoft framework's CLR or Java's JVM tend to require more system resources than functionally similar applications that access machine resources more directly. However, some applications have been shown to perform better in .NET than in their native version. This could be due to the use of relatively well-performing functions in the .NET framework, JITting of managed code, or other aspects of the CLR. · Although it is more a business decision than a real criticism on the framework, some people have expressed concern that the framework is too much tied on the Microsoft Windows operating system. However, the existence of the alternative implementations for other platforms (although not complete yet) would seem to alleviate this criticism. · There is also concern in the development community about the fact that a .NET assembly, as produced by the .NET programming environments, can be reverse-engineered to reveal some of the programming techniques and algorithms used by an application. While this kind of reverse-engineering is possible with all programs, those that compile to byte-code, as .NET and Java do, are somewhat more vulnerable. Reverse engineering can lead to the loss of trade secrets and the bypassing of license control mechanisms. Some developers are using obfuscation and other techniques in an attempt to protect their intellectual property and license revenues. Indeed Microsoft includes a tool called the "dotfuscator community edition" - a product of PreEmptive Solutions, in the full version of Visual Studio 2005. · Microsoft has applied for patents on some parts of the Framеwork.An agreement was made however between Microsoft and Novell whereby Microsoft agreed to not sue Novell or its customers for patent infringement, allowing the implementation of these parts in the open-source Mono implementation of .NET. According to a statement on the blog of Mono project leader Miguel de Icaza,this agreement extends to Mono but only for Novell developers and users. It was criticized by the Open source community because it violates the principles of giving equal rights to all users of a particular program (see Patent Agreement with Microsoft). On February 2007, the Free Software Foundation announced that it is reviewing Novell's right to sell GNU software, which makes up much of a Linux operating system, because of this agreement. |
