Whether or not to deploy the .NET Framework
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Hi folks, we have a little internal discussion about deploying our software product. It's a .NET product compiled against .NET 3.5sp1, not supporting older OSes prior to Windows XP. Our sales rep (he's a fan of SAAS solutions, whatever...) somewhat ranted about this issue like it's a BLOCKER for starting the sales process. My position regarding this is that it's generally not our (as a software vendor) task to deliver Microsoft Windows updates. What do you think? Should every software, available via download, be packaged with the .NET Framework and if yes: The full package or the web installer? I'm eager to hear from you! Best regards, Stevie
Greetings, Stephan Eberle hawke@deltacity.org
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Hi folks, we have a little internal discussion about deploying our software product. It's a .NET product compiled against .NET 3.5sp1, not supporting older OSes prior to Windows XP. Our sales rep (he's a fan of SAAS solutions, whatever...) somewhat ranted about this issue like it's a BLOCKER for starting the sales process. My position regarding this is that it's generally not our (as a software vendor) task to deliver Microsoft Windows updates. What do you think? Should every software, available via download, be packaged with the .NET Framework and if yes: The full package or the web installer? I'm eager to hear from you! Best regards, Stevie
Greetings, Stephan Eberle hawke@deltacity.org
Stevie wrote:
Our sales rep (he's a fan of SAAS solutions, whatever...) somewhat ranted about this issue
What issue? The customer has to install .NET 3.5? You could provide the .NET 3.5 installer, depending on your situation, of course. Tell your sales rep to step out the dark ages.
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Hi folks, we have a little internal discussion about deploying our software product. It's a .NET product compiled against .NET 3.5sp1, not supporting older OSes prior to Windows XP. Our sales rep (he's a fan of SAAS solutions, whatever...) somewhat ranted about this issue like it's a BLOCKER for starting the sales process. My position regarding this is that it's generally not our (as a software vendor) task to deliver Microsoft Windows updates. What do you think? Should every software, available via download, be packaged with the .NET Framework and if yes: The full package or the web installer? I'm eager to hear from you! Best regards, Stevie
Greetings, Stephan Eberle hawke@deltacity.org
Stevie wrote:
My position regarding this is that it's generally not our (as a software vendor) task to deliver Microsoft Windows updates.
It's also not Microsofts' task to keep the computer updated, it's the users' task. If you're using Sql Express, then you better distribute it; it's generally a good idea to include all dependencies. I know, that's a standalone app, but there's a gray area between system components, service packs and updates. Whom they gonna blame if your app doesn't work? Do you have the luxury of time to create two setups? If so, then you could consider a slim- and a full-version :)
Stevie wrote:
Our sales rep (he's a fan of SAAS solutions, whatever...) somewhat ranted about this issue like it's a BLOCKER for starting the sales process.
If it is, then it should have been identified sooner. How about releasing the non-SAAS version to warm the customers up to buy version 2 of your product and adding some services to that?
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Hi folks, we have a little internal discussion about deploying our software product. It's a .NET product compiled against .NET 3.5sp1, not supporting older OSes prior to Windows XP. Our sales rep (he's a fan of SAAS solutions, whatever...) somewhat ranted about this issue like it's a BLOCKER for starting the sales process. My position regarding this is that it's generally not our (as a software vendor) task to deliver Microsoft Windows updates. What do you think? Should every software, available via download, be packaged with the .NET Framework and if yes: The full package or the web installer? I'm eager to hear from you! Best regards, Stevie
Greetings, Stephan Eberle hawke@deltacity.org
Not to put too fine a point on it; your sales rep is an arse. It's not unusual to require that you have some base requirements for your software - if you aren't hosting the solution yourself then this is generally a necessity. Quite frankly, it sounds like your salesman needs to insert to remove the stick from his buttocks and smell the real world. Give them an installer; include the prerequisites; job done.
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Hi folks, we have a little internal discussion about deploying our software product. It's a .NET product compiled against .NET 3.5sp1, not supporting older OSes prior to Windows XP. Our sales rep (he's a fan of SAAS solutions, whatever...) somewhat ranted about this issue like it's a BLOCKER for starting the sales process. My position regarding this is that it's generally not our (as a software vendor) task to deliver Microsoft Windows updates. What do you think? Should every software, available via download, be packaged with the .NET Framework and if yes: The full package or the web installer? I'm eager to hear from you! Best regards, Stevie
Greetings, Stephan Eberle hawke@deltacity.org
It should at the very least include the web installer. It isn't your responsibility to do data entry in your product, but you probably (hopefully) have validators in it to make sure as much as you can that bad data doesn't make it in. Do you have any reasons why you shouldn't? What reasons could you have other than laziness, if the sales rep says there are business reasons why you should?
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Hi folks, we have a little internal discussion about deploying our software product. It's a .NET product compiled against .NET 3.5sp1, not supporting older OSes prior to Windows XP. Our sales rep (he's a fan of SAAS solutions, whatever...) somewhat ranted about this issue like it's a BLOCKER for starting the sales process. My position regarding this is that it's generally not our (as a software vendor) task to deliver Microsoft Windows updates. What do you think? Should every software, available via download, be packaged with the .NET Framework and if yes: The full package or the web installer? I'm eager to hear from you! Best regards, Stevie
Greetings, Stephan Eberle hawke@deltacity.org
Just state the requirements in the documentation and sales material.
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It should at the very least include the web installer. It isn't your responsibility to do data entry in your product, but you probably (hopefully) have validators in it to make sure as much as you can that bad data doesn't make it in. Do you have any reasons why you shouldn't? What reasons could you have other than laziness, if the sales rep says there are business reasons why you should?
T M Gray wrote:
the web installer
For 3.5? The client may already have 4.0 anyway.