Following a preview release sometime in the first half of 2020, .NET 5 is expected to become generally available this November.
Microsoft is changing its nomenclature with this coming release, forgoing the usual “Core” and “Framework” that’s typically appended to the version number. That’s reflective of the milestone that .NET 5 represents;
.NET 5 will mark the transition from the aging, proprietary, Windows-only .NET Framework to a modern, open source, cross-platform .NET.
Microsoft is promising developers a common framework and runtime with .NET 5, no matter the platform. With .NET 5, both code and project files will look and feel the same no matter which type of app you’re building. You’ll have access to the same runtime, API and language capabilities with each app. This includes new performance improvements that get committed to corefx, practically daily.
