The latest .NET Core news from September

.NET Core is a framework that is always evolving. This is reflected in the regularity of updates that are released and the developments that are included. Not only are existing bugs quickly resolved and updated. But also new functionality is added with each update. In this blog post, let's look at what has changed in September 2020.

As we have also mentioned in previous posts, in addition to the above points, work is also repeatedly being done on the speed of the underlying code of websites and applications. Thus, calls become more efficient, code is loaded faster and more is possible. In today's world with mobile websites, it is still incredibly important to have this load as fast as possible.

Frequency of updates of .NET Core and explanation versions

With any software system you have version control and the constant development that goes with it. .NET Core hosting is a system that is still relatively young and therefore still in the fast lane of development. Therefore the team behind .NET Core has made an update about the different versions that are coming out and what the further planning is.

As the team behind .NET Core understands there are two branches or tracks of .NET Core releases.

The first track is the Current releases which are like the short term updates that come out with more regularity. These are supported after launch for a period of 3 months. After the next major or minor release is released.

And the second track is the Long term support or LTS release, these are supported after launch for a period of 3 years, or 1 year when the next LTS is released before.

So .NET Core releases come out interchangeably, and LTS and Current are released when they are ready. So it is possible that an LTS release that came out first is supported longer than a Current release that came out recently.

MijnHostingPartner.nl has always installed the LTS versions on the .NET Core hosting servers as fast as possible as well as the Current releases. This way you can always continue to develop with the latest technology and you will not fall behind with for example unsafe projects. Or not being able to use the latest functionality.

End of support for .NET Core versions

With the latest update of .NET Core, there are also a number of expired versions that are no longer supported by the .NET Core team. Among those expired versions or End off Life versions are the following:

All of these versions have now expired and are no longer supported by Microsoft. The versions that can be continued are the following versions:

• .NET Core 3.1
• .NET Core 2.1.22

And the following versions, these are still supported for the security updates, for the new functionality it is best to always stay up to date with the latest Current versions on yourhosting.

What does this mean for the versions that are no longer supported?

For these the project needs to be updated to the latest long term support version. This way you can always be sure of a safe and updated application. If you continue to use the old versions that no longer receive updates or support from Microsoft then you will at some point fall behind. And your application or website is at risk for bugs, exploits and other issues. So always keep up with the latest LTS versions.

The roadmap of .NET

The full versions or LTS support versions are viewed on the timeline as follows.In November 2020 the .NET 5.0 version will be released, in November 2021 .NET 6.0, in November 2022 .NET 7.0 and the following year November 2023 .NET 8.0.The closest version, version .NET 5.0 is not a Long Term Support version. This will then probably be 5.1 or 5.2 which will be the Long Term Support version. More news will follow on this when known.

.NET Core 3.1 LTS

.NET Core 3.1 is the Core version that is used for the latest projects that need to be supported for a longer period of time. So this version is supported for 3 years, or 1 year until the new LTS comes out. In this way Microsoft and the team behind .NET Core hope to create a clear and concise roadmap that will last for years.

Want to read more about the latest update of .NET Core? Then visit the official Microsoft website where you can follow the development.