Why do I need to convert my visual studio solutions with every new release?

Every time Microsoft releases a new version of visual studio, they always require me to convert my solution and project files to 'the latest version.' Even with something as simple as a "Hello World" solution, I need to go through their conversion wizard!

And, to make things worse, the new visual studio solution files aren't compatible with old versions of visual studio.

What a nightmare for anyone working with a group of people...or anyone hoping to distribute the source code for their projects.

From stackoverflow

• I don't see the question here.

  Geoffrey Chetwood : I don't see the answer here.

• To distribute the source code, you don't need the project, just the source files.

• The new formats generally make it possible to support new features.

  Since it uses xml at the core, it would be nice if they could just add xml elements/attributes/nodes and make VS smart enough to ignore anything extra in the document.

• Two reasons:

  1. Because the project file, which is XML, has a larger schema each time - e.g., it stores more information because newer versions of Visual Studio have more features.

  2. Because each version of the .NET framework has differences. Usually backwards-compatibility is respected, and they do their best to keep everything intact but sometimes big improvements require breaking changes.