side-by-side support

[rookie1010]

what is side-by-side support?
in the following paragraph side-by-side support is the simultaneous use of two or more major versions (of operating Windows OS) by two or more drivers.

does this mean that one driver will be used by one version of the OS and the second driver will be used by the second version of the OS?

The driver model should support versioning and side-by-side support

The driver model should support versioning, so that a single driver binary will run on any version of the operating system. In addition, the model should provide side-by-side support, the simultaneous use of two or more major versions by two or more drivers. Versioning and side-by-side support enable binary compatibility for drivers across different versions of the operating system, thus simplifying testing and installation requirements.

 

[Osiris]

Traditionally, when a component or application is updated on a computer, the older version is removed and replaced with the newer version. If the new version is not compatible with the previous version, this usually breaks other applications that use the component or application. The .NET Framework provides support for side-by-side execution, which allows multiple versions of an assembly or application to be installed on the same computer, at the same time. Since multiple versions can be installed simultaneously, managed applications can select which version to use without affecting other applications that use a different version.

 

[rookie1010]

thanks for the reply

would not the "versioning" have taken care of all applications or is versioning just for the operating system.

is side-by-side use, a backup to any problems which cant be dealt by a versioned driver which supports different operating system