News
Microsoft Posts .NET 3.5 Framework Download
- By Becky Nagel
- January 24, 2008
Yesterday, Microsoft posted the final version of the .NET Framework 3.5 to
its download site, as well as several updates to other .NET Framework versions.
The Framework 3.5 download includes SP1 updates to .NET Framework 2.0 and 3.0, which are also available as separate downloads. .NET Framework 3.0 download is available here. For the .NET Framework 2.0 SP1, three versions are available: x86, x64 and IA64.
Microsoft released the 3.5 Framework when it launched Visual Studio 2008 back in November. This is the first time that the new framework has been available as a separate download from the Microsoft site.
Redmond considers 3.5 an "incremental" build improving on the "new
features added in .NET Framework 3.0 [like] Windows Communication Foundation
(WCF), Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Windows CardSpace." Probably
the most noteworthy addition to 3.5 is LINQ, but it also features additional
protocol support, new classes and integration with Visual Studio 2008. A quick
comparison of all .NET versions is available here.
Microsoft has posted a number of other downloads of interest for developers in the past few days, including:
Microsoft began releasing the source code for the .NET Framework Libraries last week.
About the Author
Becky Nagel is the vice president of Web & Digital Strategy for 1105's Converge360 Group, where she oversees the front-end Web team and deals with all aspects of digital projects at the company, including launching and running the group's popular virtual summit and Coffee talk series . She an experienced tech journalist (20 years), and before her current position, was the editorial director of the group's sites. A few years ago she gave a talk at a leading technical publishers conference about how changes in Web browser technology would impact online advertising for publishers. Follow her on twitter @beckynagel.