Start-up boost planned for Windows Vista applications

Cold start heats up

Microsoft is planning updates to the .NET Framework 3.5 later this year to improve installation and performance of applications running on Windows Vista.

This summer will see changes to the setup framework, the Common Language Runtime (CLR), and Windows Programming Framework (WPF). It's hoped that these changes will speed application start up and optimize performance in areas like graphics and data.

Scott Guthrie, a general manager in Microsoft's developer division, said the updates will make it quicker and easier for applications to be installed and started by users without changing an application's code and without re-compiling the application.

The update to the CLR, he claimed, will improve the "cold start-up" performance for applications by between 25 and 40 per cent, and be backwards compatible to applications running under versions 2.0 and 3.0 of the .NET Framework, in addition to version 3.5 that received its official launch with Visual Studio 2008 this week.

Further updates are due after the summer that will see controls added to WPF for DataGrid and ribboning, and the Visual Studio 2008 WPF designer updated with tab support. WPF is Microsoft's programming framework for building Windows interfaces using its Extensible Application Markup Language (XMAL).®