Updated Support for CLR Versions and Visual Studio Versions

As most of you know, we survey customers every year and ask questions about your current platform usage, your future plans and of course where you’d like to see us invest in platforms and technologies.  Based on the trends that you’ve reported, and with introduction of CLR 4.5 later this year, we are updating our support policy for older versions of the CLR.  These are large changes for some of you, but won’t affect most of you, since the majority of  the data we’ve collected shows you are using the latest and greatest CLR and Visual Studio versions from Microsoft.

So onto the meat of this post … starting with the fall 2012 12.2 release, we are changing what we ship in terms of CLR assemblies.

Full CLR 4.0 / 4.5 Support

Starting with 12.1, we added support for Visual Studio 11 and CLR 4.5.  This will of course continue, as well as continued support for Visual Studio 2010 and CLR 4.0.  The following products are in a full support cycle for Visual Studio 2010, Visual Studio 11, CLR 4.0, CLR 4.5:

• Windows Forms
• ASP.NET
• WPF
• Silverlight (Silverlight 5 only)
• LightSwitch
• Windows Phone
• jQuery / HTML5

In these products, we will ship documentation samples, project files and source code in CLR 4.0.  We will support both CLR 4.0 and CLR 4.5.

ASP.NET Support

In the 12.2 release, we will be shipping version-less assemblies for ASP.NET controls for the following CLR’s:

• CLR 3.5
• CLR 4.0
• CLR 4.5

12.2 will be the last release for CLR 3.5 assemblies.  In 12.2, all of the documentation, samples, project files and source code will target CLR 4.0. 

• We are not shipping CLR 2.0 or 3.0 assemblies after the 12.1 (May 2012) release.  CLR 2.0 and CLR 3.0 assemblies are supported through May 2013 for bug fixes and through May 2015 for general support issues.

Windows Forms Support

In the 12.2 release, we are shipping version CLR 4.0 assemblies.  We will ship documentation samples, project files and source code in CLR 4.0.  We will fully support CLR 4.0 and CLR 4.5.

• We are not shipping CLR 2.0 or 3.5 assemblies after the 12.1 (May 2012) release. CLR 2.0 and CLR 3.5 assemblies are supported through May 2013 for bug fixes and through May 2015 for general support issues.

WPF Support

Since June 2011, most of the controls we shipped in WPF were CLR 4 only, and many of the new controls (like the Syntax Parser / Code Editor) are using CLR 4 specific features.  Starting with the 12.2 release, we are shipping version CLR 4.0 assemblies. We will ship documentation samples, project files and source code in CLR 4.0. We will fully support CLR 4.0 and CLR 4.5.

We are not shipping CLR 3.5 assemblies after the 12.1 (May 2012) release. CLR 3.5 assemblies are supported through May 2013 for bug fixes and through May 2015 for general support issues.

Silverlight & LightSwitch Support

Since Silverlight does not depend on a CLR version, we have the following support for Silverlight & LightSwitch:

• Silverlight 5 support and Visual Studio 2010 plus Visual Studio 11 support for the NetAdvantage for Silverlight product.  With the last release of 12.1 (May 2012), we dropped support for Silverlight 4.  So there is no change to the Silverlight support.
• Silverlight 5 support and Visual Studio 11 support for the NetAdvantage for LightSwitch product.  In 12.2, we will no longer ship Visual Studio 2010 add-ins for LightSwitch, thus closing the door on Silverlight 4 LightSwitch releases.

Reporting Support

Our NetAdvantage Reporting product ships with CLR 4 and Visual Studio 2010 support. Visual Studio 11 will be fully supported for 12.2. So there is no change to the Reporting support.

Windows Phone Support

Windows Phone currently is supported under the Windows Phone 7.5 SDK & Visual Studio 2010.  There are no changes to the Windows Phone support at this time.

jQuery / HTML5 Support

Most of the adoption on this product is around the HTML / jQuery components, but we also ship MVC wrappers for all of the controls.  Beginning with the 12.2 release (Fall 2012) we will only ship MVC 3 and MVC 4 wrappers for the HTML / jQuery controls.  This means full Visual Studio 2010 and Visual Studio 11 support for building modern web based apps.

Understanding the Support Policy

Our support policy is designed to maximize the bug fixes and updates in the initial year of your subscription, and to give you longer term 3 year support on issues as you need help.

You get:

• Bug fixes / service releases / new controls / new features in the initial year after you purchase or renew your subscription
• 3 years of developer support on every product from the date is was released
   

In the case of assemblies that we are no longer shipping as part of the product, you still receive 12 months of bug fixes and services releases, and you get 3 years of developer support. 

• For all CLR 2.0, 3.0 & 3.5 assemblies that shipped in 12.1 (May 2012), you will get fixes until May 2013, and support until May 2015.

If you have any questions or comments on these changes, shoot me an email at jasonb@infragistics.com.

Thanks!

Jason