I’d never heard of the .NET Framework version 2.0a until the .NET Framework 3.5 installer bombed out (after 30 minutes – slow machine) with the error saying it couldn’t install because I didn’t have .NET version 2.0a installed.  Yes, there is an “a” there at the end.

WTF is this?  Must be a hotfix or something.  Googling fails me.  Interestingly, googling for the quoted phrase “.net framework 2.0a” returns results with the following punctuation embedded in it:

• .net framework 2.0: a
• .net framework 2.0. a

Yoink!