Any ideas when will Microsoft announce when they will announce if they will support Windows XP for .net 4.5?

So, I am starting a new project at my work.  It is going to be big.  And it will be maintained and upgraded for at least 10 years to come.

It would be really nice to use the new .net 4.5 stuff for this project.

However, I have the unfortunate situation to work at a company that does not move completely off an OS until the Extended Support expires.  So I will have XP users for some time to come.

I have read that MS is "Not commenting on the support of Windows XP for .net 4.5 at this time".  That is fine and is their right.  But I would hate to find out one month after we have thrown in with .net 4.0 that we could have done .net 4.5.

Does anyone have an idea when we will know one way or another if .net 4.5 is supported on Windows XP?

(NOTE: To be clear, I am asking for opinions on when we will know, not what the answer will be.)

Mmm... IIRC I've heard the official answer which is 'no', but I forgot where it come from, may be this Q&A with ScottGu from LIDNUG http://youtu.be/bOx8PkXK6DE

I could be wrong though, maybe he is talking about the beta. so maybe we will hear it in the BUILD 2012

I think the major debate is on the C/C++ support part. There's nothing I heard of regarding plans to add support to .NET v4.5 for WinXP. And it seems they'll also drop support for Vista as well (from the beta requirement). I'm not sure whether they'll add back support for Vista though. Vista and Win7 are very similar in terms of structure, and Vista is not going out the support window soon. There must be some incompatibility for them to drop support for Vista while supporting Win7.

If you're targeting WinXP, there's no need to wait. Just continue using .NET v4.0

You might want to start writing your beginX and endX methods, now. It seems like you will be writing a lot of them in the near future.

-Josh

If you have a big project that you're starting now, by the time you release, XP will be out of extended support.

@Vaccano: .NET 2.0 supported as far back as Windows 2000.  .NET 3.5 supported as far back as Windows XP.  .NET 4.0 supported as far back as Windows XP SP3.

I don't recall any new system level dependencies added to .NET 4.5 over .NET 4.0; however, with XP extended support ending August 2014 it seems a similar situation to .NET 3.5 and Windows 2000 which ended extended support in 2010.

They won't.

@davewill: From what I recall, there are issues with Windows XP's threading model.

-Josh

11 hours ago, Vaccano wrote

So, I am starting a new project at my work.  It is going to be big.  And it will be maintained and upgraded for at least 10 years to come.

It would be really nice to use the new .net 4.5 stuff for this project.

So, you know the extended support for XP ends in 2014, you know you're app will be supported for 10 years, and you're wondering about .NET 4.5 support for XP? What don't I get here?

Heck, if your project really is big, what are the chances it will be in production before XP is no longer in extended support? It seems to me like you're asking the wrong questions.

3 hours ago, wkempf wrote

*snip*

So, you know the extended support for XP ends in 2014, you know you're app will be supported for 10 years, and you're wondering about .NET 4.5 support for XP? What don't I get here?

Heck, if your project really is big, what are the chances it will be in production before XP is no longer in extended support? It seems to me like you're asking the wrong questions.

My project will also support Windows 7 (and probably 8).  As my company moves operating systems in the coming years, my project will support it fine.  But sadly, we have legacy apps that don't run well on Windows 7.  So I am stuck for now.  (Until 2014 probably.)

My project is slated for release about a year an a half.  We will probably have parital releases before that.  If XP is a no-go, I can't use .NET 4.5.

@Vaccano: 18 months from now? 4.5 it is. You can run legacy apps on Windows XP mode under Windows 7.

@ZippyV: True.  However, corporate probably won't be putting a project together to rollout Windows 7 on their existing XP machines (I'd guess).

5 hours ago, Vaccano wrote

My project is slated for release about a year an a half.  We will probably have parital releases before that.  If XP is a no-go, I can't use .NET 4.5.

Microsoft are about to start work on Windows9. They don't like people who are still using a product that is three major versions behind what they're writing code for. It's like running Adobe Reader 7. Or Internet explorer 6.

3 hours ago, evildictaitor wrote

*snip*

Microsoft are about to start work on Windows9. They don't like people who are still using a product that is three major versions behind what they're writing code for. It's like running Adobe Reader 7. Or Internet explorer 6.

What Microsoft needs to do is to have a funeral for Windows XP, like they did for Internet Explorer 6.

IE is a free product with free product, but XP is a paid product with paid upgrades, so they can't have a 'funeral' for it when its still 'supported' somehow.

In other news, Felix9 found something slick, you can use VS11 to create 4.0 code that uses the async / await keywords.