.NET 3.0 --is-- 2.0 plus WinFX and WPF. The new Vista frameworks are the whole difference.
The .NET 3.0 framework comes as an optional update, though, and therefore is not installed automagically.
If you're interested in the .NET 3.0 Framework SDK, which is now called "Windows SDK", prepare yourself for a 1 GB download. And no, that does NOT include one of those Express Edition IDEs. The baby just got really big.
It still looks as if Microsoft did not properly prepare itself for the Vista rollout. Neither Robotics Studio nor XNA nor the Visual Studio Express Editions without the new patch work on Vista, and the .NET 3.0 stuff just was not designed for XP and developers who do not want to write specifically for Vista just have no use for .NET 3.0 or its SDK. Taking full advantage of .NET 3.0 means buying a one-way ticket to Vista.
The .NET 3.0 framework comes as an optional update, though, and therefore is not installed automagically.
If you're interested in the .NET 3.0 Framework SDK, which is now called "Windows SDK", prepare yourself for a 1 GB download. And no, that does NOT include one of those Express Edition IDEs. The baby just got really big.
It still looks as if Microsoft did not properly prepare itself for the Vista rollout. Neither Robotics Studio nor XNA nor the Visual Studio Express Editions without the new patch work on Vista, and the .NET 3.0 stuff just was not designed for XP and developers who do not want to write specifically for Vista just have no use for .NET 3.0 or its SDK. Taking full advantage of .NET 3.0 means buying a one-way ticket to Vista.