Along with releasing the Windows Vista Release Candidate 1 (RC1) last week, Microsoft also released the first candidate for the .NET Framework 3.0, previously known as WinFX. RC1 includes the .NET Framework 2.0 along with updates for Windows CardSpace, Windows Communications Foundation, Windows Presentation Foundation, and Windows Workflow Foundation.
Microsoft is also issuing a Go-Live License with RC1, which means that developers can deploy applications written using the .NET Framework 3.0 into a live environment. A user must agree to and sign the .NET Framework 3.0 Release Candidate Go-Live License in order to distribute any applications using the framework. Microsoft has also listed out all the factors that must be considered before signing the agreement.
“The .Net Framework has always been at the core of WinFX, but the WinFX brand didn’t convey this,” says Soma Somasegar, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s developer division.
“The WinFX brand helped us introduce the incredible innovations,” for workflow, web services and other new technologies, says Somasegar. However, the WinFX brand “also created an unnatural discontinuity between previous versions of our framework and the current version. With this in mind we have decided to rename WinFX to the .Net Framework 3.0. [The] .Net Framework 3.0 aptly identifies the technology for exactly what it is — the next version of our developer framework,” Somasegar says.
Microsoft is making the right move with the rebranding, says Chris Howard, an analyst at Burton Group. “I think it’s a good idea because .Net has good traction in the developer community,” he says. “In the past, Microsoft had problems [similar to] other companies with lots of branding. They need to consolidate those brandings under larger umbrellas.”
Early, pre-release versions of .Net Framework 3.0 technologies have been available for some time. “I would say the big advantage of the WinFX stuff is that it raises the level of abstraction for programmers and makes it easier to do complex things,” such as web services and building of UIs, says Howard.
Related Reading:WinFX is the New .NET Framework 3.0
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