With the .NET platform continuing to grow at a breakneck pace, the need for a lighter weight client-only version has become apparent. To address this need, the .NET Framework Client Profile was created.
This version, currently at 27 MB, isn't exactly small. But at less than 15% of the full version, it will be a welcome change for those needing to deploy it across their company or over the Internet. The savings are made by eliminating the server aspects of the framework such as System.Web.
The libraries left fall into the below categories. You can see the full list of assemblies on the BCL Team Blog.
- Active Directory and Enterprise Services
- BCL, "Core FX," and LINQ
- ClickOnce
- Data Access
- Peer to Peer
- Visual Basic and Visual C++ Language Support
- WCF, Web Services, Remoting, and Serialization
- Windows Forms
- WPF
- XML