Almir Vuk

.NET Upgrade Assistant tool received an update introducing Third-Party API and Package Map Support. This should help developers simplify the upgrade process by identifying and replacing outdated third-party APIs and packages with their updated versions. Microsoft states that the new feature aims to ease transitions between platforms, such as from UWP to WinUI or from Xamarin Forms to .NET MAUI.

Last week Microsoft released the sixth preview of .NET 9 framework, introducing several updates across the .NET Runtime, SDK, libraries, C#, and frameworks such as ASP.NET Core, Blazor, and .NET MAUI. As stated, the release aims to enhance performance, improve developer experience, and expand functionality.

At the end of July, Avalonia 11.1 has been released. It is labeled as a point release, but as stated in the official release post, the volume of improvements suggests a major upgrade for developers. The project changes are related to Performance Optimizations, UI and UX Improvements, Developer Productivity, Graphics and Animation Enhancements, and more.

Microsoft released the .NET Aspire 8.1 version at the end of July. The latest version introduces a series of enhancements and new features aimed at improving the experience of developers using the platform in production environments. The most notable addition in this release is support for building container images and the capability to orchestrate Python code.

Last week, Microsoft unveiled the seventh preview of the .NET 9 framework, introducing a range of updates across its components, including .NET Runtime, SDK, libraries, C#, and frameworks like ASP.NET Core and .NET MAUI.

Microsoft released the .NET 9 Preview 7 version which includes significant updates to .NET MAUI, such as the introduction of HybridWebView and the deprecation of the MainPage. It also introduces new lifecycle methods for managing remote notifications on iOS and also enhancements to Native Embedding capabilities and more.

.NET 9 Release Candidate 1: Approaching Final Release with Updates Across the Framework

Last week, Microsoft announced the preview release of two libraries: Microsoft.Extensions.AI.Abstractions and Microsoft.Extensions.AI. These packages, referred to as Unified AI Building Blocks, provide the .NET ecosystem with essential abstractions for integrating artificial intelligence (AI) services into .NET applications and libraries, along with middleware to enhance key capabilities.

.NET Aspire has released version 9.0 Release Candidate 1 (RC1), a major update to the platform. This version supports both .NET 8 Long Term Support (LTS) and .NET 9 Standard Term Support (STS), incorporating many features and fixes requested by developers across the different components.

Microsoft has announced the introduction of the Modern Web App (MWA) pattern for .NET, which is part of its Enterprise App Patterns (EAP) initiative aimed at accelerating application modernization to the cloud.