Future plan for DNN NEXT and .NET Core

I've actually been following Oqtane very closely, as I was intending to rebuild my online role-playing game BrowserQuests (developed in DNN back in 2014) in Oqtane so I could abandon DNN and move to .NET Core/Blazor. On paper, the Oqtane project looks utterly awesome, and the fact that it's being led by Shaun Walker (the original developer of DNN) is a tremendous bonus in my eyes.

The MVP (minimum viable product) is out now and I did indeed start working with it. My initial impression is that it has a LONG WAY to go before it can match what DNN already does (albeit in a much older technology stack). Indeed, after a week of working with it, I've decided to return to DNN and keep working on my project at least for the next year or two.

Naturally, I'm very curious about the future of DNN, not just to see whether it ever adopts a .NET Core framework but whether the overall community will last as well. To be frank, it doesn't look good for DNN right now, but some seem to still be working in it (such as the Vanjero effort at https://www.vanjaro.com). To that end, I'm curious about what others think is the realistic future of DNN...

https://github.com/dnnsoftware/Dnn.Platform/milestones

I noticed DNN 10 is ready for 97%
Will this be the .Net Core version?

Posted By Willem on 09 Sep 2020 05:36 AM
https://github.com/dnnsoftware/Dnn.Platform/milestones

I noticed DNN 10 is ready for 97%
Will this be the .Net Core version?

AFAIK not

 

 

So DNN version 10 will be last version that creates the migration path to the .Net Core version (DNN.vNext)

I assume the goal still is migrating DNN to .Net Core, right?

Posted By Willem on 10 Sep 2020 04:12 AM
So DNN version 10 will be last version that creates the migration path to the .Net Core version (DNN.vNext)

I assume the goal still is migrating DNN to .Net Core, right?

The plan shifted quite a while ago actually - https://www.dnnsoftware.com/community-blog/cid/156717/dnn-net-core-net-5-revisited

Microsoft changed some of the possibilities of how we can migrate, and took away any sort of a graceful migration pattern for us.  As such, we have shifted focus to provide the best platform that we can within the toolsets that we have available.

Migration to .NET Core would not be a migration, it would be an entire breaking change.  Everything that we have today would not work, no themes would work, no third-party modules would work, no custom modules would work.  Essentially zero eco-system.  The community spoke out, at both of the last DNN Summit events and other locations that it wasn't acceptable to have a "net new" future.  

Excited for the future roadmap development

What is the need to migrate to .Net Core... that's the question. Many organisation, websites, webapplications and other software solution are build on the .Net Framework. It's an illusion to think all these solutions will upgrade to .Net Core in the next few years. Microsoft is aware of this fact and will support this for many years. So that won't be the reason to migrate to .Net core as soon as possible. In this perspective DNN is a stable, secure and robuust solution for many websites, portals and other webapplication. DNN is future proof and can be used for many years...

But why should we migrate to .Net Core:

• The customers demands .Net Core because they thinks this is the way to go for the future and the IT manager says it is (DNN is legacy?);
• We have several job vacancies and the young en dynamic developers want to use .Net core and Blazor;
• Developing in .Net core is better, faster and has more opportunities... advantages with regard to the mobile platform.

Conclusion
We can keep using DNN for many years. For now there's no need to migrate to .Net core. The websites/portals/application we build in DNN can be used for many years (no legacy). Maybe for new projects and clients it would be a advantage to start in .Net Core but thers's no urgent need to. Maybe within a few years Oqtane (.Net core and blazor framework) is an better option... but for now we continu with DNN...

What do we think of this?

Why should we rush to upgrade? Performance of course.

.NET Core has dramatic performance improvements with the integration of Span<T> Struct alone. 

In >= .NET 5 you can marshal List<T> AsSpans for major read improvements.

CollectionsMarshal.AsSpan<T>(List<T>) Method

I agree .net core has many advantages, in particular for developers.
But I don't think performance is the biggest issue of DNN.

I rather think DNN is less attractive for developers, because they want to use the latest techniques and platforms.

9.11.0 is almost ready for release... so we made another step...

Posted By Willem on 28 Sep 2022 11:16 AM

9.11.0 is almost ready for release... so we made another step...

 

DNN 9.11.0 has been released today, see Releases · dnnsoftware/Dnn.Platform (github.com)