Why doesn't Office 2007 Beta 2 install the .NET 2.0 runtime?
If Office is now a platform, and the only way to develop apps around Office is .NET (VSTO), then why wouldn't it be included and installed by default?
As far as I know, Vista will include the 3.0 redist (essentially the 2.0 runtime), so it can't be a legal block or security issue. I still have no idea why the repave of XP SP2 didn't grab the chance, but that's ancient history now.
Is it just that the Office 2007 people think the .NET client-side story is not something that is important to them? Is there a caricature user profile of some poor smuck that doesn't want to code in unmanaged code around Office with a big arrow and a 'Ha ha' pointing at them on a wall in building 39?
I am happy enough to be on the wrong side of a Runtime Callable Wrapper due to the huge (and compatible) COM investment, but to have to sell the runtime download/install to the end-user is getting pretty tiring.
I've been waiting since 2002 - You either believe in this stuff or you don't.
What gives?
- David