Hmmm. Seems rather odd that a later subversion would 'break' an
earlier release. It's not supposed to work that way, I'm sure you'll
aggree. If it does its a bug.
They're called breaking changes. For instance, you discover that an
existing function is partially broken, so you fix the behaviour to what
it should have been. But any existing program which has come to rely on
the partially broken implementation may not behave correctly on the
fixed implementation. That's just one example of a breaking change.
Java, does not require that you keep every iteration, only BUGS in
the implementaion make that necessary.
There are upgrades to existing versions which just fix bugs. You
wouldn't expect older versions to stick around. But if Sun were to
release version 6, you would expect there to be larger, functional,
changes. And if you had software which had been developed and *tested*
against version 5, you may prefer that it continue to work against that
version rather than against a later version (which the software may not
have been tested against, and which the software developers may not
provide support for)
I don't use many apps that require .NET, and I could presumable
replace that earlier version if I had to. I'll probably just delete
it, after cloning my drives (just in case).
I don't understand what great personal harm having the older framework
on your machine is causing you, but sure, go ahead.
PS A different version of a game is a different game. I don't think a
subversion of .NET falls into the the category of a different program.
Thanks for your input.
You keep referring to "subversion". They are not, they are different
versions. I would describe a subversion as, for instance, the Service
Pack 1 for .NET Framework 1.1.
I was using the game analogy, since this concept of each version being
distinct, different, and not necessarily an "upgrade" is quite
different from most business software. There are three versions of the
..NET framework. These are 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0. 1.1 has received a service
pack, I do not remember any SPs for 1.0 and (since it's only just
arrived), 2.0 has not received one yet. Sure, it may have been clearer
that 1.1 was not an upgrade of 1.0 if they had given it the name 2.0
(and the new one would then by 3.0). But hey, that's history for you.
Damien