Clarify that the latest .NET version is the preferred version for server development

[danroth27]

Type of issue

Clarify text

Description

We should clarify the messaging on this page that the latest .NET version (currently .NET 8) is by far the preferred version of .NET to use for server development. The reasons to continue using .NET Framework are very specific and limited. As it stands, the current content is structured as if these are two valid options that you should choose between. But I think what we should be saying is that the recommended approach is to use the latest version of .NET, but using .NET Framework may be still appropriate in some specific cases. We should lead with the modern .NET platform and then explain when using .NET Framework may still be appropriate

This came up in a recent reddit thread where the user felt that "Unfortunately, in my opinion, the paragraph titled 'When to choose .NET Framework' doesn't provide much clarity...I would strongly suggest rephrasing the website to indicate that the natural choice is .NET, and .NET Framework should only be used if there are specific reasons not to use .NET."

Note that this doesn't mean that .NET Framework isn't a supported option and we should be careful not to suggest otherwise. .NET Framework is absolutely still supported and we still have many .NET users (including Microsoft!) that build business critical apps on .NET Framework. But we should still make sure it's clear that using the latest .NET version is the recommended and preferred option.

Page URL

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/choosing-core-framework-server?toc=%2Faspnet%2Fcore%2Ftoc.json&bc=%2Faspnet%2Fcore%2Fbreadcrumb%2Ftoc.json&view=aspnetcore-8.0#when-to-choose-net-framework

Content source URL

https://github.com/dotnet/docs/blob/main/docs/standard/choosing-core-framework-server.md

Document Version Independent Id

95083e1c-ef53-e813-08e2-1aa31b431f00

Article author

@gewarren

Metadata

• ID: 7b76cb0d-df6d-88c4-557d-ad327a566eef
• Service: dotnet-fundamentals