Towards a Smaller .NET 4 - Details on the Client Profile and Downloading .NET

NOTE: All this info is for programmers/developers. If you just If you want .NET just to run stuff, just go get the 800k Web Installer for .NET 4 and you're all set. It'll do the rest. Now, that said...

Almost two years ago I blogged about how Microsoft was trying to make the size of the .NET Framework smaller and smaller. That day I made a site called http://www.smallestdotnet.com to help folks find the smallest download possible for their system.

I just noticed a post on the WPF Perf and .NET Client Profile blog that goes into a LOT of detail on how the .NET 4 Client Profile makes things smaller.

Before, the .NET 3.5 SP1 Client Profile was a good idea, but it wasn't really a first class citizen. It wonly worked on x86 and machines that didn't have .NET on them already. Some amount of time you'd end up having to get the full .NET install anyway. They say the focus on .NET 4 is on getting Client Applications to run as fast as possible with as few bits as possible.

Check this out from Jossef Goldberg's blog: "Unlike the NET 3.5 SP1 Client Profile, NET4 Client Profile is:"

   * Supported on all OS that Full is
   * Supported for x86 & x64
   * Client Profile is *the* framework that will be available on Windows Update for desktops
   * Supported in all aspect of VS (e.g. targeting, deployment project, etc)
   * Is the default target in almost all VS10 Client Project Templates (Winforms, WPF, VSTO, etc)

So that's good to know. They are committed to this and this will be the .NET 4 that gets distributed via Windows Update later this year. The general idea is that they avoid installing things you don't need a client machine. That means they won't install ASP.NET on your Mom's computer just because she wants a game. Also, the .NET 4 Client profile is a proper subset of the .NET 4 "Full" Framework.

Read more: Scott Hanselman's ComputerZen.com

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