Overview
The less you pay attention to the state of your systems and solutions today, the bigger your problems in the future will be. Technologies are continuously moving forward and your task is to make sure that your software can keep up with them.
Today, there are still a lot of companies that rely on their .NET solutions built many years ago. But with the time flow, they start to notice that they need to allocate more and more money to the maintenance of their apps and that it is gradually becoming more and more challenging to find IT experts who are familiar with the used technologies and can work with them.
Why modernize your .NET software if it still performs its tasks?
We regularly hear this question from our clients. And from a non-tech perspective, we can understand their position. In any case, the development, as well as modernization, of any software product required investments. And people need to have really strong reasons to make such a decision.
Sometimes it happens that companies find out the necessity to upgrade their .NET apps only when they want to enrich them with new features or integrate any new solutions in their software systems. Nevertheless, it doesn’t mean that only those apps that you are actively expanding need to be modernized. Even those apps that are in maintenance mode require timely modernization. However, the reasons in both cases can be different. Let’s analyze both situations.
Software in maintenance mode
This group unites those .NET that are deployed and used but you do not have any plans to expand them or enrich them with new features. In this case, there are usually two crucial points to pay attention to – software performance and security.
Each technology or tool has its lifecycle. Within this lifecycle, it is supported by its vendor or owner. The same is true about .NET versions. When the lifecycle of the version of .NET, .NET Framework, or .NET Core comes to the end, Microsoft stops supporting it and issuing any security or functionality updates.
For example, the company stopped supporting its .NET Core 1.0 on June 27, 2019, while for .NET 5, it happened on May 5.2022. If we take the .NET 6 version, we will see that Microsoft plans to stop offering support for it in November 2024.
That’s why we strongly recommend you consider the possibility to upgrade your software to at least .NET 6. It will help you to avoid a lot of risks and to be sure that you will get the required support if it is required.
Software that is being actively developed
When we are talking about .NET applications that you are actively working on, you need to take into account other factors that may have a direct or indirect impact on the functioning and future fortune of your applications.
- Access to skillful developers. It is obvious that programmers are always interested in learning the most promising and advanced technologies that’s why when young specialists come to the market, it’s highly unlikely that they will have any desire to learn how to deal with obsolete tools. It means that in 10-15 years after your app was developed, it will become very difficult to find anyone who will be able to work with your software. When you timely update your .NET applications, it will be significantly easier to find specialists for your needs.
- Scalability and compatibility with modern technologies. Your .NET apps should not only demonstrate excellent performance (which is impossible with older .NET versions) but also be convenient to use and interact with. Among the most crucial requirements, we should mention their scalability and support of cloud technologies. To ensure a lot of capacities for expanding app functionality and for optimizing maintenance costs, it is recommended to consider the deployment of your app on a cloud platform, and in this case, upgrading the .NET version is a must.
Another argument in favor of modernizing your .NET apps is the wide range of containerization possibilities provided by newer versions of .NET Core.
We never offer any changes or modernization if we are not confident in the feasibility of these actions. That’s why before starting any work with your applications, we study your case and evaluate different scenarios.
