VS 2008 which framework

chemaster

New member
Joined
Mar 20, 2006
Messages
2
Programming Experience
Beginner
With VS 2008 using .NET Visual Basic:

To maximize compatibility with the most machines without losing to many features ........ which framework should be selected as the deployment option? Any suggestions :)

Also, which OS's would it be compatible with? XP, Vista, 2000 ???

Many Thanks,
 
You can choose to target .Net 2.0, 3.0 or 3.5, see OS compatibility list in the redist download pages:
Download details: .NET Framework Version 2.0 Redistributable Package (x86)
Download details: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 Redistributable Package
Download details: .NET Framework 3.5

You only have native compatibility with Vista that have .Net 2.0+3.0, others have to download & install if they haven't installed it before, but an installer will take care of checking and installing this prerequisite.
 
The choice of framework would depend on the features that are required by your application. Features like workflow, WCF and WPF are present only in framework 3.0 and above. Alternatively, the VS IDE allows you to select the framework to which you want to target your application.
 
.NET 3.5 is compatible with every XP SP2 and Vista system, so using .NET 2.0 for compatibility isn't really necessary unless you want to support WinMe and earlier too. I would suggest targeting .NET 3.5 unless you have a specific reason to do otherwise because that way you get LINQ and some other cool features that make development easier, even if they don't really make a difference to the end-user experience.
 
Back
Top