Plethora of Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable installs

[The Big Cheeze]

Is there any valid reason does Windows 10 need 5 versions of Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable (x86) and 5 versions of Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable (x64) then also have 5-7 versions each of the (x86) installs for 2008, 2010, 2013, 2015, and 2015-2019 and additional 5-7 version of each of the (x64) packages? This is a huge waste of space (3.1GB) on large group of deployed laptops with limited storage space.



For instance why isn't Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable (x64) version 9.0.30729.6161 backwards compatible to the other four versions?

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