.NET support life cycle
The support life cycle starts when a product is released and ends when it is no longer supported. End of support means that from this date, Microsoft will no longer provide fixes, updates, or online technical assistance. It is vital to keep your release updated before you reach this date. If Microsoft support is ended, you do not receive any security or critical updates, which may make your system vulnerable and open to malicious software.
.NET Framework support
.NET Framework is defined as a core component of the Windows OS, meaning its support is tied to the Windows life cycle. Every Windows OS as a product has a life cycle that starts when a product is released and ends when it is no longer supported.
For example, Windows 10 March feature updates are supported for the next 18 months, and September feature updates are supported for the next 30 months from the date of the release.
At the time of writing of this book,.NET Framework 4.8 is the latest version of .NET Framework that will continue to be distributed with future releases of Windows.
It will continue to be supported as long as it is installed on a supported version of Windows OS.
Tip
Support dates for all of the Microsoft products can be seen here:https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/.
With this, we learned that there will be no newer versions of .NET Framework, but that it will be continuously supported as long as the underlying Windows OS is supported by Microsoft.
.NET Core support
Talking about .NET Core support includes .NET Core, ASP.NET Core, and Entity Framework Core. The .NET Core support life cycle offers support for each release. It has two kinds of release and, hence, two basic support models:
- Long-term support (LTS) releases: These are designed for long-term support. They include the most stable features and components and require fewer updates. These releases could be regarded as a preferred choice for big enterprises, where stability while staying up to date is the first choice.
LTS releases are supported for 3 years following initial release.
- Current releases: These include the latest features, but they could change in the future and would potentially make your application unstable. These could be considered a good choice for active application development, but you need to upgrade more often to a later .NET Core release to stay in support.
Current releases are supported for 3 months after each subsequent release.
Although both types of release receive critical fixes for security and reliability throughout their entire life cycle, you must stay up to date with the latest patches to remain qualified for support.
There is also a support case known as a maintenance cycle, offered in the last stage of the life cycle. During this cycle, a given release will only receive security updates. The maintenance time length is just 3 months for the current release, and 1 year for the LTS release.
.NET Core release life cycles
The following link has a table that keeps track of release dates and end-of-support dates for .NET Core versions: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/platform/support/policy/dotnet-core.