On Friday, Microsoft announced the .NET Framework 3.0. It is a renaming of WinFX and will be shipped with Windows Vista (whenever it actually ships.)

While the renaming makes sense on some levels, it adds confusion on others. The .NET Framework 3.0 version will be comprised of the existing 2.0 components (ASP.NET, ADO.NET, etc) completely unchanged but adding in Windows Presentation Foundation (WPC), Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), Windows Workflow Foundation, and InfoCard (now called Windows CardSpace).

It appears that the 3.0 framework will require the 2.0 framework to be installed (and will install it as part of the installation if need be.) This will be the first framework release that will require a previous version or other bits to be installed. I fear the size of this installation!

The confusion for me starts when I think about Orcas (the next version of .NET). According to Jason Zander, it will likely be called 3.5. Will it need 3 frameworks installed (2.0, 3.0, and 3.5)? What will the new versions of ASP.NET and the other components be called? (Will we care?)

On a sad note, I recently looked at the new developer certification info with a friend from work. The .NET Framework 2.0 exams just got out of beta and already we are talking about the 3.0 Framework. Should we all hold out for the 3.0 exams? :)