Give your apps a new life with Microsoft .NET 6

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Are you sure your .NET applications are still supported by Microsoft?

.NET 6 on general release from 9th November 2021

The release of .NET 6 achieves Microsoft’s goal for all .NET components to be unified under one product, where users can then pick and choose which parts of .NET they want to use, instead of downloading and installing everything separately.

With every .NET release the focus is rightly on the new capabilities and functionality it brings for developers and applications. You can check out some of the presentations and demos on the .NET Conference page to find out more.

And read about our Smart Marking System built on .NET 6 by Chris Worledge!

But for most of us a more important (and often neglected task) is to remember that with each new .NET release from Microsoft there are also potential implications for the security and support of the application portfolio. This is because Microsoft plans to retire older versions of .NET in accordance with its overall support strategy. With security concerns at an all time high, this is now a critical task as ‘out of support’ also means no new security updates!

So the release of .NET 6 is an opportunity to assess both the benefits it offers for development and re-development and also the long term support implications for applications built on older versions of .NET, including .NET framework and .Core.

*Remember: Out of support means no updates, including security updates!*

Understanding the support status of your Microsoft apps is not easy!

Microsoft’s support model is complex with different support policies for its operating system, platforms and applications. For .NET the key points to know are:

  • Only even-numbered versions are guaranteed long-term support (LTS),
  • .NET 4.8 and Core 3.1 are currently in LTS but all prior versions out of support from April 2022 (4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1)
  • Core and .NET framework versions are living on borrowed time!

The C-BIA .NET migration Service

Our .NET migration is a service designed to relieve you of the internal effort of ensuring your apps remain in support. And a means of avoiding the risks if they are not! It includes the following activities:

  • Review your portfolio of .NET apps to ensure their support status is known and correctly documented,
  • Identify deprecated components and discuss with system owners and IT stakeholders the implications, including which versions of .NET to target to maximise support lifetime,
  • Identify business critical apps,
  • For apps that need to be migrated, explore if this is also an opportunity to improve performance, re-develop the user interface, include new functionality or extend to mobile devices,
  • Provide free estimates for migrations and development as requested.

The service is charged as a flat fee and charges are based on the size of the application portfolio. If we are contracted to carry-out migration work resulting from the study within 3 months of its delivery, all or a part of this fee may be off-set against this work. Further details are available on request.

We covered .NET 6 in an earlier post, including a pre-release project to asses its capabilities and value for us and our clients.

And the Benefits?

  • Access to independent external expertise to work with your portfolio managers to conduct a review and accelerate the pace of your releases.
  • A clear phased migration roadmap that can be easily rolled forward as Microsoft releases new versions of .NET and removes LTS from older versions of. NET.
  • A solid base for development and migration plans and for budgeting and sourcing without unpleasant surprises!

P.S. This service can include all applications in your portfolio, and not just Microsoft .NET.

Want to know more?

Contact us at info@c-bia.co.uk to find out more about this and related support services or request a no- obligation quote.