.NET Framework version history

.NET Store APIs
Async model
TPL
EF
WPF
WCF
WF
WCS
The .NET Framework stack

Microsoft started development on the .NET Framework in the late 1990s originally under the name of Next Generation Windows Services (NGWS). By late 2001 the first beta versions of .NET Framework 1.0 were released.[1] The first version of .NET Framework was released on 13 February 2002, bringing managed code to Windows NT 4.0, 98, 2000, ME and XP.

Since the first version, Microsoft has released nine more upgrades for .NET Framework, seven of which have been released along with a new version of Visual Studio. Two of these upgrades, .NET Framework 2.0 and 4.0, have upgraded Common Language Runtime (CLR). New versions of .NET Framework replace older versions when the CLR version is the same.

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.

.NET Framework 4.8 was announced as the last major version of .NET Framework, with future work going into the rewritten and cross-platform .NET Core platform (later, simply .NET), which shipped as .NET 5 in November 2020.[2][3] However, .NET Framework 4.8.1 was released in August 2022.[4]

  1. ^ "Framework Versions". Archived from the original on 4 May 2008. Retrieved 19 December 2010.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Richard, Lander (10 November 2020). "Announcing .NET 5.0". .NET Blog. Archived from the original on 18 February 2021. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  4. ^ "Announcing .NET Framework 4.8.1". Archived from the original on 24 August 2022. Retrieved 11 August 2022.