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Update to the .NET support policy with upcoming WinXP expiration

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Metalogic
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Update to the .NET support policy with upcoming WinXP expiration

I've looked through the forums for an answer but couldn't find any recent discussions (most of the posts were several years old).

I understand that the current policy is not to officially support .NET apps. They are available under a separate download section. I understand why this decision was taken (http://johnhaller.com/jh/useful_stuff/dotnet_portable_apps/) and it made sense at the time (that page was last updated in 2010).

However, Windows XP will officially retire in a few months on April 8, 2014 (see https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/endofsupport.aspx). That means XP machines will no longer receive security updates and anyone crazy enough to continue running it will be in a world of hurt.

As of that date, Vista will be the oldest supported version of Windows and it ships with .NET 2.0 and 3.0.

As such, I propose that this date also marks the beginning of support for .NET apps as first-class citizens.

John T. Haller
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Before Then, Still Separate

We'll be shipping .NET apps before then once the platform can detect which .NET is available and offer appropriate message boxes when it is not in available languages. That's really the only reason it's not available now.

It will still be a separate section, though, as Windows XP won't be going away anytime soon. Windows XP accounts for 37% of Windows users (more than Windows Vista, 8, and 8.1 combined). Which is pretty crazy considering that it's being dropped in 7 months. Compare this to Windows 2000 which ended life in July 2010 and only had 1% of Windows users in 2009.

The bottom line is that Windows XP is going to be around and supported by software for quite a long time after being retired by Microsoft. And it will continue to have a large install-base. Heck, it may still have a larger installbase than Windows 8+8.1 when it's retired.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

Metalogic
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Thanks for the quick reply,

Thanks for the quick reply, John.

Your reasoning is sound. XP does still have an alarmingly high usage percentage.

Glad to see that support for .NET is coming along even if in a separate section. Maybe by this time next year, XP will have finally sailed into the sunset and .NET apps can finally become first-class citizens (without the need for a separate section).

All the best,
Santiago (Metalogic Software)

Metalogic Software

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