Question How common is .NET framework?

[Spacethingy]

Well, seeming as today is "Poll Day"... :lol:

I'm considering adding a simple VB Windows Forms program as a installer for an addon of mine.

(I'm not going to be adding registry/start menu stuff, I find that a bit rude in an addon...)

Question is, how many people have the .NET framework installed? If it's hardly any, there's not a lot of point...

EDIT: Where I've put "runtimes" I really should have said "Framework".
EDIT2: Ah, that's how you edit a post title.
EDIT3: There's no such thing as the VB.NET framework... :rofl:

After much editing (apologies) the poll question should read: "Do you have the .NET Framework installed?"

 

[Face]

Do you mean .NET framework? I don't know what you understand with VB.NET runtime.

I admit that I'm no VB.NET guru, but as it is a .NET language, I'm pretty sure you need the appropriate .NET framework installed for applications to run. In this case, keep in mind that certain newer Windows versions come preinstalled with it. This SO-thread may be of interest to you: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/71390/which-operating-systems-come-with-net

regards,
Face

 

[Moach]

if you have win7, you have .NET 3.5 by default...

 

[Spacethingy]

Oh dear. This is what comes of reading about C++ and pretending to be clever by muddling through VB...

I'll change the title...

edit: bah, can't change the title...

 

[Lucy]

You should be able to change your own title by editing your first post and clicking "Go Advanced". Changing the title of the first post changes the title of the thread.

 

[HarvesteR]

By now I believe most people should have at least .NET 2.0 installed... Since Windows 7 (and Vista) already ship with 3.5, unless you're still stuck on winXP SP1, it's fair to assume you will have some version of .NET onboard.

There used to be a time when coding over .NET was frowned upon, because it forced a dependency on people.... but IMO, that stopped being true about 3 years ago

Cheers

 

[jedidia]

There's no such thing as VB.NET runtimes. It's just the .NET framework, which you need to run any apps that have been coded in any .NET language.

They're fairly common nowadays. I consider it good practise to use the lowest version possible (i.e. the earliest version that supports the features you're actually using), to make sure that as many people as possible can use your app without having to update.

In case of someone using an older system, it can also be pretty frustrating to having an app not work because it demands a framework version that isn't supported by his system anymore, while not even using any features of the higher version. I still had 2K until something like 8 months ago, so I'm kinda sensitive to that topic. It's ESPECIALLY frustrating if that app is an installer of a program that would run on the system without trouble once installed.

 

[garyw]

The question isn't 'how popular are various runtimes' it's 'Will people take the time to install a runtime just to use my app?'.

It's safer to assume people don't have any of the runtimes so you need to think in terms of people having to install them just for your app.

 

[agentgonzo]

It's a runtime. If people want to run your app, they'll get the runtimes. It's nit like you're the only one using .net

 

[Mantis]

The question isn't 'how popular are various runtimes' it's 'Will people take the time to install a runtime just to use my app?'.

It's safer to assume people don't have any of the runtimes so you need to think in terms of people having to install them just for your app.

Not in the case of .NET. The .NET Framework is pretty much universal on Windows with up to version 3.5 being part of the operating system (Windows 7) and version 4.0 being installed automatically via Windows Update. All versions are also installed on Windows XP and Vista via Windows update as well.