Tick, Tick, Time to upgrade your .NET Framework!

It’s official news now! Microsoft has stopped its support to those who are using older .NET frameworks. If your organization is using .NET framework which is 4.5.1 or earlier, you no longer receive any patches or support for the framework. Microsoft had officially announced the abruption of support to these versions is active by January 12th of 2016, which leaves the organization with no option but to upgrade to version 4.5.2 or later.

What is Microsoft .NET Framework?

.NET framework is one of the popular platforms by Microsoft Inc. for developing high-end windows applications and web applications. The framework is facilitated with IDE (Integrated Development Environment) called Visual Studio which with excellent tool to create interfaces of the application.

Initially it was a premium development tool which requires the developers to purchase license but recently Microsoft made this platform an open source resource.

What is software support?

Software support is something that is support to troubleshoot or clarify any issues related to the usage or installation of that particular software. The service also includes roll-outs of updates on software improvement and bug management.

Risk of Attacks

As security and consistency being the most important factors for the organization, it is an alarming necessity to upgrade the software. Because of the fact that no security patches or performance updates will be provided for the older versions. The .NET framework version without proper support on security is vulnerable to getting hacked easily.

.NET Cloud Service Deployments

And the situation is similar to those who have deployed .NET framework in their cloud services. The images of the latest versions of the respective cloud service deployments can be downloaded from the respective service providers.

.NET framework shipped with Operating systems

The expired version is shipped with most of the Windows 8 operating systems and Windows Server 2012. Thus, these respective desktop and server operating systems should be upgraded with their .NET framework for safety and consistence. Even those who practice learning the framework or enrolled for .NET training should also migrate to the newer versions. That would help them to adapt to the .NET framework deployed in the organization they are going to work for.

Why the service is stopped?

In order to provide support, Microsoft has to invest resources and effort. By saving the expenditure on support provided to old versions, the organization can invest on improvements on the latest versions. This intention is also clearly expressed by the security program manager of Microsoft recently.

How to find the version installed?

In complicated deployments, developers can find the respective version of the .NET framework that is installed in their local system by navigating to the following URL

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full key

Building idiot-proof software programs is a great deal and takes a lot of effort. Development frameworks like .NET are Indeed a great boon to the software developers.