Just about every article you read about deploying .NET application mentions the .NET runtime. Remember this is approximately 20 MB in size
I've heard it called
- Large
- Huge
- Cumbersome
- Bloated
- Considerable
- Hefty
- Sizable
- Substantial
Then the articles usually bemoan the fact that the huge download size will keep consumers from downloading it. Does is seem to anyone else that .NET gets more complaints on this topic than other “down-loadable” frameworks?
The kicker for me was an article I read in the April 2004 MIT's Technology Review. The article, describing several new online chat-rooms that use avatars, mentions how the chat software works. Second Life is one of the websites mentioned in the article.
”.. solve this problem in several ways. Second Life subscribers first download a small(only 18 megabytes) piece of software called a 'thin client'. “ --page 53
See! An 18 MB file is small - at least according to this magazine.
What about Java and it's JVM? People download it all the time. How about Flash? Talk about market penetration - Flash is on over 90% of web browsers.. Flash player updates may not be in the 20 MB range but they are certainly not little files. Who thinks twice about downloading the latest update to Flash? Obviously not the majority of web users if you look at the Macromedias statistics.
I think there are two key elements to getting the .NET runtime installed on most consumer computers.
One. Make the update seamless to the user.
Two. There must be a least one -must have- application. Something that everyone wants to have on their computer.