Installing Visual Studio 2003 after 2005

Thought I'd post this because Google didn't give me the answer I needed and I'm sure there are other people out there who find out they need VS 2003 for some reason, AFTER they install VS 2005.

Problem: The VS 2003 installer tries to setup the prerequisites and fails on the .Net Framework 1.1 installation, because 2.0 is already installed. This then causes the rest of the installation to fail.

Solution: Install the 1.1 framework using a downloadable installer, which for some reason succeeds where the one shipped with VS 2003 failed. After that, start the VS 2003 installation again; it'll find 1.1 in place and perform the rest of the installation flawlessly.

Caveat: MS says multiple versions of VS can coexist, but recommends the installations to be in the order of release, so I'm not sure if I've actually broken anything obscure going in reverse.

The Best Things in Life...

After having cut code in everything from COBOL to Java for almost nine years, I had the audacity once to state that my three year plan was to be a Software Architect. That was at a job interview six years ago, so it took me twice as long to get here but it was worth waiting for.

Another bunch that achieved a dream are Nemesis who won best band with their founding member Mackie winning best musician at TNL Onstage 2008. I was there of course, to cheer the band on and to celebrate my own little victory. Had a great time and hope they put up the videos soon, so all of you can enjoy their music as much as I did!