Not really. You can upgrade the framework with Windows Update, or by just going to dotnet.microsoft.com and downloading the latest installer. Applications can s

Not really. You can upgrade the framework with Windows Update, or by just going to dotnet.microsoft.com and downloading the latest installer. Applications can ship their own copy of the framework or depend on the system copy. The framework does include some core/system libraries, but other applications can’t install their crap system-wide (which was possible with the GAC).