.NET Framework stigma
    Created: 2025-10-13

    Quick overview

    In this blog post, I'll share my thoughts on the stigma that .NET Framework has in the developer community (especially among really experienced developers) and if it still applies to new .NET as well.

    Is .NET the legacy .NET Framework with new name?

    For those who are not familiar with terms .NET Framework, .NET Core and .NET:

    • In February 2002 Microsoft released .NET Framework 1.0. The last major version of .NET Framework is 4.8.1 released in August 2022.
    • .NET Core was introduced in 2016, later renamed to .NET 5 in 2020. The latest version of .NET is 9 (released in November 2024).

    As you can see, there is a period where both .NET Framework and .NET/.NET Core were actively developed. What are the differences then?

    If you visit official .NET Framework site you will see the following info panel:

    So, Microsoft itself recommends to use .NET 8 and the main reason for it is that .NET is cross-platform and open-source. Compare that to .NET Framework which is Windows-only and closed-source - it is clear why .NET is the better choice.

    It is worth mentioning that there is also Xamarin/Mono and .NET Standard but it is out of scope of this article.

    Why .NET Framework has a bad reputation?

    Initial launch of .NET Framework was not perfect. It was slow, heavy and had many limitations. It was also Windows-only which limited its adoption. Closed source was a bone of contention as well.

    In the corporate world, .NET Framework was often associated with legacy systems and monolithic applications. Many developers who had experience with other languages and frameworks viewed .NET Framework as outdated and not suitable for modern development practices.

    From the very beginning, .NET Framework was heavily tied to Visual Studio IDE which was slow and resource-intensive. This created a perception that .NET development was cumbersome and not developer-friendly. For many years .NET Framework grew in minds of developers as an ugly Shrek-like monster that you have to deal with in corporate world.

    People who learned by practice how .NET Framework was in early days are still there. Many years later, they are admins, architects or senior developers. They still have that stigma in their minds. Unfortunately, many of them never changed their opinion about .NET and are not aware of how much it has changed.

    What has changed in .NET?

    The most relevant changes:

    • Cross-platform - .NET can run on Windows, Linux and macOS. This opens up many possibilities for deployment and development.
    • Open-source - .NET is now open-source which allows for community contributions and transparency.
    • Performant - .NET has been optimized for performance and is now one of the fastest frameworks available (in certain scenarios).
    • Modular - .NET is modular which allows developers to use only the parts they need. This is especially obvious for someone like me - I was working with multiple versions of .NET Core and .NET. The trend was to chop libraries to simple, single purpose packages. That way, .NET introduced granularity and flexibility to its ecosystem. Building IoT for example is now possible with .NET.
    • Modern - C# has evolved significantly over the years and now includes many modern language features such as async/await, LINQ, pattern matching, records, etc. New versions of C# and .NET are released on a yearly basis with a schedule - thus it is easier to plan upgrades, especially in corporate world.

    Mature libraries

    Over the years, .NET was enriched with many great libraries (called NuGets). Many of them are open-source and maintained by the community.

    Some of them needed some time to become useful. For example, Entity Framework was not very good in early days. But over the years it has evolved into a powerful ORM (you can look for old debates about Entity Framework vs Dapper performance, or read the new one explaining differences).

    Another great example is NSwag. This library is super helpful when building APIs and clients (either TypeScript or C#). I had many bad interactions with NSwag in the past. Lately, I had none 🙂. Over the years fine alternatives were introduced as well - for example Refit.

    The amount of good stuff is so wide, that it has become increasingly challenging to keep up with new ones.

    Visual Studio - echo of the past?

    Visual Studio is still the main IDE for .NET development. It is a powerful tool with many features. However, it is still slow and resource-intensive.

    I have so little experience with Visual Studio lately, all thanks to Rider and Visual Studio Code. Both are way more lightweight and faster. They have a lot of differences as well (I can write a whole article about it), but the main point is that you are not forced to use Visual Studio anymore.

    Additional resources

    Check out this video to have a different perspective on .NET Framework stigma.

    Conclusion

    If you are new to .NET, don't let the stigma of .NET Framework hold you back. .NET is a modern, performant and developer-friendly framework that is worth learning.

    I can understand the developers who are eager to learn JavaScript/TypeScript and Node.js. The ecosystem is huge and there are many opportunities. But don't dismiss .NET without giving it a chance. You might be surprised by what you find.

    I hope you found this article useful. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below.

    And as always - happy coding! 🚀