Microsoft has visited the Bizzaro World of application compatibility to explain which software will break once Longhorn's .NET Framework 2.0 is unleashed on Windows.
And the answer shouldn't be too surprising: applications written for the new stuff, in this case .NET Framework 2.0, are unlikely to run on the older stuff - that is, versions of Windows running the .NET Framework 1.0 like Windows Server 2003.
Customers will need either Longhorn or up-coming Windows Server Release 2 which will run .NET Framework 2.0, to use applications that are written for the .NET Framework 2.0.
Add-ins, such as those used in Office, are expected to pose the biggest compatibility problem, as these will default to the .NET Framework 2.0 in the Longhorn "wave" of products.
The good news? Applications written for .NET Framework 2.0 - particularly managed executables and those running on a pre-configured host - stand a better chance of running on more recent versions of the .NET Framework version 1.1.
