.NET Framework - History

History

Microsoft started development of the .NET Framework in the late 1990s, originally under the name of Next Generation Windows Services (NGWS). By late 2000 the first beta versions of .NET 1.0 were released.

Windows XP (including service packs) does not come with any version of the .NET Framework installed. Version 3.0 of the .NET Framework is included with Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista. Version 3.5 is included with Windows 7, and can also be installed on Windows XP and the Windows Server 2003 family of operating systems. On 12 April 2010, .NET Framework 4 was released alongside Visual Studio 2010.

The .NET Framework family also includes two versions for mobile or embedded device use. A reduced version of the framework, the .NET Compact Framework, is available on Windows CE platforms, including Windows Mobile devices such as smartphones. Additionally, the .NET Micro Framework is targeted at severely resource-constrained devices.

Version Version number Release date Visual Studio Distributed with
1.0 1.0.3705.0 02002-02-1313 February 2002 Visual Studio .NET
1.1 1.1.4322.573 02003-04-2424 April 2003 Visual Studio .NET 2003 Windows Server 2003
2.0 2.0.50727.42 02005-11-077 November 2005 Visual Studio 2005 Windows Server 2003 R2
3.0 3.0.4506.30 02006-11-066 November 2006 Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008
3.5 3.5.21022.8 02007-11-1919 November 2007 Visual Studio 2008 Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2
4.0 4.0.30319.1 02010-04-1212 April 2010 Visual Studio 2010
4.5 4.5.50709.17929 02012-08-1515 August 2012 Visual Studio 2012 Windows 8, Windows Server 2012

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