I’ve created a very simple prototype application in Visual Basic 2010 Express. The problem is that it uses the 4.0 .NET runtime, so every test user has had to install new runtime libraries. This won’t do for wide distribution where ever hurdle means fewer installs.
What version of .NET should I target for minimum friction? Or could I even use old-fashioned MFC, if I re-write in C++?
And will the latest version Visual Studio allow me to target any runtime version?
(I’m not using anything fancy in .NET — it’s actually based on a VB6 program. The application gets an image from TWAIN and sends the it to a server.)
Visual Studio will allow you to target any framework version, located in the project properties. If you’re really concerned about catering to a wider audience, and since you mentioned an option for rewriting it in C++, I would say go with that option.
Even though, it’s safe to assume that anything above .NET 2.0 will be present in almost all machines, so if you had to pick a target framework, I’d go with that. Simply rebuild your solution once you change the target framework.