Somasegar has announced what was in the air as the final Microsoft's decision: WinFX wil be rebranded as .NET Framework 3.0.
The .NET Framework 3.0 will include the existing .NET Framework 2.0 components (ASP.NET, WinForms, ADO.NET, additional base class libraries and the CLR) and the new developer-focused innovative technologies such as Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) and the newly christened Windows CardSpace (WCS) formerly known under the codename “InfoCard”.
The .NET Framework 3.0 will still ship with Windows Vista, and will be available down-level for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 as planned.
What is missing on the announce are the answer to this common questions:
- Where will be the new Framework installed? It will have a new folder in %windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\V3.0.
- What version of the CLR compiler will be used? The CLR is still v.2.0, so the compiler will be the actual that you use with .NET 2.0.
- Will be LINQ support included? No.
This will be included only in the Orcas release.
Now permit me a little considerations: why .NET 3.0 if all will be based on the existint .NET 2.0 CLR? Maybe something like .NET 2.1 could be more appropriate. 