Re:Linus Torvalds on why desktop Linux sucks (2014)
by alkonaut on Saturday May 08, 2021 @01:50PM
(#27089301)
In what way is the runtime not redistributable?
The old one “.NET Framework” is an OS component but has enough compat that you can always upgrade it.
The newer one (net5+) is typically fully bundled with each app so no sharing.
MSVC also went this way - you bundle them rather than take a dependency on a system wide runtime. These two (.NET and c++ runtimes) were basically the last shared libs on windows, and it’s now basically obsolete tech (.NET 4.X) or no-longer-recommended deployment method (Msvc).
Re:Linus Torvalds on why desktop Linux sucks (2014)
by formerly_proven on Saturday May 08, 2021 @02:23PM
(#27089542)
You are right, but there are still a lot of applications reliant on the "old ways".
That's not really true. The .NET runtime isn't redistributable, and so has to be installed on the host OS, which usually works but not always (and pre-Windows 10, newer versions of .NET required a bunch of KBs, which meant that Windows Update was actually working and able to install those, which fairly frequently broke on Windows 7 due to the lack of Service Packs). Nowadays this is less of a problem, due to improved .NET compatibility and .NET 4.x coming pre-installed on Windows 10. Which honestly is great - you can compile and run .NET 4.x programs on any Windows 10 machine. Granted, it's some relatively outdated version by now, but it is still very nice to have a "proper" programming language out of the box, and also the ability to compile to small .exe's.
Similarly, MSVC runtimes (except the installers are redistributable, but you are still in the situation of "have to globally install it").