Microsoft ships .NET 10 LTS and Visual Studio 2026, Copilot everywhere

Steven

Microsoft ships .NET 10 LTS and Visual Studio 2026, Copilot everywhere

Summary

Microsoft has released .NET 10 as a Long-Term Support (LTS) version alongside C# 14, Visual Studio 2026 (VS 2026) and updates to related tooling such as Aspire (formerly .NET Aspire). The launch, timed with the virtual .NET Conf, emphasises improved developer onboarding (single-file apps in C# 14), a refreshed Fluent UI in VS 2026, deeper GitHub Copilot integration and performance gains for large solutions. Aspire has been rebranded and extended to support Python and JavaScript while retaining .NET-based tooling. ASP.NET Core receives modern auth features including WebAuthN and Passkeys. The releases promise easier entry and better productivity but bring trade-offs — especially around Copilot usage limits and continued reliance on Microsoft stewardship.

Key Points

  1. .NET 10 is an LTS release; C# 14 is included in the .NET 10 SDK.
  2. C# 14 introduces single file applications (script-like .cs files), Unix #! support and a dotnet project convert command to turn single-file apps into full projects.
  3. Visual Studio 2026 brings a Fluent UI refresh, deeper Copilot integration and up to ~50% faster loading for large multi-project solutions (per Microsoft).
  4. GitHub Copilot Free is bundled for individuals (advertised limits: ~2,000 completions and 50 premium requests/month) but ‘multipliers’ mean premium-request usage can be consumed faster; enterprise features (audit logs, policy controls) are not included.
  5. ASP.NET Core adds built-in WebAuthN and Passkey support for modern authentication flows.
  6. Aspire is renamed, open source, now supports Python and JavaScript and offers an integrated CLI/dashboard for microservices and cloud resources with many prebuilt integrations (strong Azure flavour).
  7. The .NET stack continues to be cross-platform and open source, but its future direction is still heavily influenced by Microsoft.
  8. AI-driven coding assistants tend to favour JavaScript/TypeScript by default, which may affect language trends despite .NET’s steady progress.

Content summary

Microsoft used .NET Conf to announce a major, two-year cadence LTS release: .NET 10 with C# 14. A headline feature is support for single-file, script-like C# apps that lower the barrier to entry and can be converted into full projects with a new CLI command. Visual Studio 2026 focuses on UI polish (Fluent design), tighter Copilot integration and performance improvements for large-scale solutions, though the functional gap from the latest VS 2022 updates is modest.

Copilot Free is included to help developers start, but the free tier has hard usage constraints and lacks business controls — once limits are hit, VS falls back to IntelliCode and chat features stop responding. ASP.NET Core’s security posture gets a boost with WebAuthN/Passkey support. Aspire (now simply Aspire) broadens its remit to other languages while keeping a .NET-native control plane and dashboard for orchestrating common cloud services.

The piece closes by noting .NET’s impressive journey from a Windows-only stack to a modern, cross-platform open source platform, while cautioning that the ecosystem remains dependent on Microsoft and faces competition from JavaScript/TypeScript momentum accelerated by AI tooling.

Context and relevance

This release matters if you build or maintain .NET-based systems, manage dev tooling, or evaluate platform choices. An LTS release is a signal for organisations to consider upgrades for long-term stability and security. The deeper Copilot integration highlights the shift toward AI-assisted development but also raises operational questions about costs, limits and governance. Aspire’s multi-language support could influence microservice architecture decisions, especially for teams already invested in Azure or Microsoft tooling.

Author style

Punchy: If you care about developer productivity or platform strategy, read the details — LTS releases are the ones you plan migrations around, and the Copilot changes will affect both individual workflows and team policies.

Why should I read this?

Short version: new LTS, nicer IDE, AI everywhere. If you ship .NET apps or choose dev platforms for your team, this is one of those updates you can’t ignore — it tells you what’s safer to standardise on, what will speed up developers, and where you’ll need to tighten governance (hello, Copilot usage limits).

Source

Source: https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2025/11/12/net_10_c_14_visual/