More VS.NET 2003/ Framework 1.1 Info

I've seen post all over the net about people nervous about installing VS.NET 2003. Having worked with it for several months now,  let me allay your fears.

First off, put it out of your head that this is an upgrade. Upgrade infers replacing the current software. As with the framework itself, VS.NET 2003 is installed next to VS.NET 2002, which can also be installed next to VS7, VS6 et al. The two will cohabitate in perfect harmony (they sleep in the same bed, but VS.NET 2002 stays on top of the sheets, while 2003 like lay under the covers) with nary an argument between them.

Further, there should be no reason why the rest of you don't install the .NET Framework 1.1 immediately. It will not hose your system, and lots of people (including myself) will be distributing 1.1-compiled apps in the very near future. Just so that you know, I have it on extremely good authority that the ASP.NET Forums are compiled to 1.1.

Here's where you should be afraid. ASP.NET Component Developers: Welcome to Assembly Hell. Assembly Hell is the replacement for DLL Hell, the ol' COM buddy of ours. Assembly Hell occurs because the lack of an Application Assembly Cache when dealing with version dependancies. When dealing with an app that references 2 different third-party assemblies that in turn individually reference two different versions of the same assembly (ie a licensing component), the older version may overwrite the new version, cause a dependency error. The depths of this hell increase further because we are now going to be required to carry multiple versions of the same product for the forseeable future. Arrgh.

5 Comments

  • Where you wenrt wrong is taking out 1.0 and still trying to use VS.NET 2002. VS.NET 2002 and 1.0 are like conjoined twins. Separate them, and one will die. Conversely, VS.NET 2003 and 1.1 are the same way.





    In other words, LEAVE 2002 ALONE if you still want to compile to 1.0.

  • Hi Robert,

    I am a VB6 shareware developer migrating to VB.Net 2003. I love the new VB.Net because of the new wonderful features like security, encryption etc. I am thinking about telling my users in the download page to install the .net framework 1.1 required to run my software. My big concern is if the users are willing to download a 23 Megs file and install something that they have no idea what it is or how it works just to run my software?

    I was looking for articles that explain how it will works and if Microsoft will incorporate the .net framework in the future versions of windows making this easy for us, but I couldn’t find anything.

    Any advice will be very appreciated!

  • I know this is eight months gone by, but can I install 1.1 and use VS.NET 2002? In other words, can I develop using the 1.1 framework?

  • No. You cannot develop on 1.1 using VS.NET 2002. You must upgrade to VS.NET 2003.



    Now, you can install 1.1 and 1.0 at the same time, but each version of VS.NET is tied to it's specific version of the Framework. That will change with Whidbey.

  • I don't know about the rest of you but buying Visual studio .net every 2 years is a no no. I currently use 2002 which has not paid for itself yet. I am trying to use 3rd party controls which state 'yeah we support 2002' well they don't work on 2002. So where is this going now?

    Oh buy 2003 they say ok give me $3000.00 US be happy to. By that time 2005 should be out oh wait please can I buy it to for $4000.00?

    Thanks

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