What is this Microsoft .NET stuff?

[SouljaAC]

Windows update wants me to download this Microsoft .NET stuff, but Idk if I wanna download it.
What exactly is this thing, what do I need it for, or can I just simply delete the older one off my computer and not download the newer one?

 

[Lord Evermore]

A bad dream.

All the Windows update thing is is the framework that lets .NET stuff run on your machine. No problem if you don't download it, if you ever need it, you'll know it, but it's also not going to hurt. It's sort of like having a Java virtual machine installed.

 

[wetcat007]

Evil Marketing all in their plot to conquer the world.

 

[jam3]

Originally posted by: Lord Evermore
A bad dream.

All the Windows update thing is is the framework that lets .NET stuff run on your machine. No problem if you don't download it, if you ever need it, you'll know it, but it's also not going to hurt. It's sort of like having a Java virtual machine installed.

It's almost exactly like the JVM. .NET is basically an interpreted language but with better hooks to the OS. There is no harm in installing it, it simply allows .NET apps that look for local assemblies to run.

 

[imgod2u]

There are subtle differences between .Net and JVM. For one, the .Net VM is a bit more optimized than Sun's JVM (although there are other Java VM's out there that perform significantly better). Secondly, the .Net VM is loaded with the OS and the framework runs all the time. Those of you who've delt with Java knows that the main reason why it's considered "slow" is because of the load time neccessary for the JVM to load and you have to do this with every program/applet you run because Java calls for one VM instance to run with each applet/program. I don't think .Net has this limitation.