Software developers still using Microsoft .NET 7 should consider upgrading soon. The company has announced the end of support date for the old version of the open-source development tool.
Microsoft’s Announcement and Support End Date
In a new blog post, Microsoft announced that official support for .NET 7 will end after May 14, 2024. This gives this version of the tool 18 months of official support. Microsoft has given odd-numbered versions of .NET an amount of support time known as standard support (STS).
Implications Post May 14th
The company notes that May 14 also coincides with its monthly event known as Patch Tuesday. As a result, .NET 7 may receive its final update on this day.
Here’s what will happen to apps built with .NET 7 after May 14th:
- Applications using this version will continue to work.
- No new security updates will be released for .NET 7.
- Continuing to use an unsupported version will expose you to security vulnerabilities.
- You may not be able to access technical support for .NET 7 applications.
Changes in Visual Studio
Microsoft says the .NET 7 feature in Visual Studio will be changed to unsupported and optional for Visual Studio 2022 17.6 and Visual Studio 2022 17.4 with servicing updates for those versions in June 2024, adds NIX Solutions.
Action Plan
Microsoft says that if you know you’re using an app built with .NET 7, you should ask the app’s developer or render it to see if a version with the newer .NET 8 exists.
We’ll keep you updated as more information becomes available.