Microsoft started development on the .NET Framework in the late 1990s originally under the name of Next Generation Windows Services (NGWS). By late 2000 the first beta versions of .NET 1.0 were released.[1]
Version 3.0 of the .NET Framework is included with Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista. Version 3.5 is included with Windows 7, and can also be installed on Windows XP and the Windows Server 2003 family of operating systems.[2] On April 12, 2010, .NET Framework 4 was released alongside Visual Studio 2010.
The .NET Framework family also includes two versions for mobile or embedded device use. A reduced version of the framework, the .NET Compact Framework, is available on Windows CE platforms, including Windows Mobile devices such as smartphones. Additionally, the .NET Micro Framework is targeted at severely resource-constrained devices.
| Version | Version Number | Release Date | Visual Studio | Default in Windows |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 1.0.3705.0 | 2002-02-13 | Visual Studio .NET | |
| 1.1 | 1.1.4322.573 | 2003-04-24 | Visual Studio .NET 2003 | Windows Server 2003 |
| 2.0 | 2.0.50727.42 | 2005-11-07 | Visual Studio 2005 | Windows Server 2003 R2 |
| 3.0 | 3.0.4506.30 | 2006-11-06 | Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 | |
| 3.5 | 3.5.21022.8 | 2007-11-19 | Visual Studio 2008 | Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 |
| 4.0 | 4.0.30319.1 | 2010-04-12 | Visual Studio 2010 | |
| 4.5 | 4.5.?????.? | 2012-??-?? | Visual Studio 11 | Windows 8, Windows Server 8 |
A more complete listing of the releases of the .NET Framework may be found on the List of .NET Framework versions.
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This is the first major .NET Framework upgrade. It is available on its own as a redistributable package or in a software development kit, and was published on 3 April 2003. 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, shipping with Windows Server 2003. Mainstream support for .NET Framework 1.1 ended on 14 October 2008, and extended support ends on 8 October 2013. Since .NET 1.1 is a component of Windows Server 2003, extended support for .NET 1.1 on Server 2003 will run out with that of the OS – currently 14 July 2015. .NET 1.1 is the last available version for Windows NT 4.0.
If .NET Framework 1.0 is removed, installing only .NET Framework 1.1 also provides the system support for version 1.0, except in rare instances where an application will not run because it checks the version number of a library.[3]
Released with Visual Studio 2005, Microsoft SQL Server 2005, and BizTalk 2006.
.NET Framework 3.0, formerly called WinFX,[5] was released on 21 November 2006. It includes a new set of managed code APIs that are an integral part of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 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 uses the Common Language Runtime of .NET Framework 2.0.[6] Unlike the previous major .NET releases there was no .NET Compact Framework release made as a counterpart of this version. Version 3.0 of the .NET Framework shipped with Windows Vista. It also shipped with Windows Server 2008 as an optional component (disabled by default).
.NET Framework 3.0 consists of four major new components:
Version 3.5 of the .NET Framework was released on 19 November 2007, but it is not included with Windows Server 2008. As with .NET Framework 3.0, version 3.5 uses the CLR of version 2.0. In addition, it installs .NET Framework 2.0 SP1, (installs .NET Framework 2.0 SP2 with 3.5 SP1) and .NET Framework 3.0 SP1 (installs .NET Framework 3.0 SP2 with 3.5 SP1), which adds some methods and properties to the BCL classes in version 2.0 which are required for version 3.5 features such as Language Integrated Query (LINQ). These changes do not affect applications written for version 2.0, however.[7]
As with previous versions, a new .NET Compact Framework 3.5 was released in tandem with this update in order to provide support for additional features on Windows Mobile and Windows Embedded CE devices.
The source code of the Base Class Library in this version has been partially released (for debugging reference only) under the Microsoft Reference Source License.[8]
The .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 was released on 11 August 2008. This release adds new functionality and provides performance improvements under certain conditions,[9] especially with WPF where 20-45% improvements are expected. Two new data service components have been added, the ADO.NET Entity Framework and ADO.NET Data Services. Two new assemblies for web development, System.Web.Abstraction and System.Web.Routing, have been added; these are used in the ASP.NET MVC Framework and, reportedly, will be utilized in the future release of ASP.NET Forms applications. Service Pack 1 is included with SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1. It also featured a new set of controls called "Visual Basic Power Packs" which brought back Visual Basic controls such as "Line" and "Shape". Version 3.5 SP1 of the .NET Framework shipped with Windows 7. It also shipped with Windows Server 2008 R2 as an optional component (disabled by default).
For the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 there is also a new variant of the .NET Framework, called the ".NET Framework Client Profile", which at 28 MB is significantly smaller than the full framework and only installs components that are the most relevant to desktop applications.[10] However, the Client Profile amounts to this size only if using the online installer on Windows XP SP2 when no other .NET Frameworks are installed. When using the off-line installer or any other OS, the download size is still 250 MB.[11]
Key focuses for this release are:
Microsoft announced the intention to ship .NET Framework 4 on 29 September 2008. The Public Beta was released on 20 May 2009.[15]
On 28 July 2009, a second release of the .NET Framework 4 beta was made available with experimental software transactional memory support.[16] This functionality is not available in the final version of the framework.
On 19 October 2009, Microsoft released Beta 2 of the .NET Framework 4.[17] At the same time, Microsoft announced the expected launch date for .NET Framework 4 as the 22 March 2010.[17] This launch date was subsequently delayed to 12 April 2010.[18]
On 10 February 2010, a release candidate was published: Version:RC.[19]
On 12 April 2010, the final version of .NET Framework 4.0 was launched alongside the final release of Visual Studio 2010.
On 18 April 2011, version 4.0.1 was released supporting some customer-demanded fixes for Windows Workflow Foundation.[20] Its design-time component, which requires Visual Studio 2010 SP1, adds a workflow state machine designer.[21]
On 19 October 2011, version 4.0.2 was released supporting some new features of Microsoft SQL Server.[22]
After the release of the .NET Framework 4, Microsoft released a set of enhancements, named Windows Server AppFabric,[23] for application server capabilities in the form of AppFabric Hosting[24][25] and in-memory distributed caching support.
A preview version of .NET Framework 4.5 (Developer Preview: 4.5.40805) has been released on September 14, 2011.,[26] a set of new or improved features are added into this version.[27]
Metro style apps are designed for specific form factors and leverage the power of the Windows operating system. A subset of the .NET Framework is available for building Metro style apps for Windows 8+ using C# or Visual Basic. This subset is called .NET APIs for Metro style apps.
In the .NET Framework 4.5 Developer Preview, new asynchronous features were added to the C# and Visual Basic languages. These features add a task-based model for performing asynchronous operations.
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