While Microsoft released Visual Studio 2015 and .Net 4.6 earlier this week, it did not include the upcoming version 5 of ASP.Net, an open source and cross platform framework for building next generation web applications in .NET.  Microsoft did however release a roadmap which includes estimated dates for the next series of Beta milestones (currently ASP.Net 5 is on Beta 5).  The roadmap shows that there are no less than 3 more beta drops planned before RC1 and the eventual 1.0 release.

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Milestone, Release Date
Beta6, 27 Jul 2015
Beta7, 24 Aug 2015
Beta8, 21 Sep 2015
RC1, Nov 2015
1.0.0, Q1* 2016

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Each beta milestone has its own theme and Microsoft has provided a view for developers into what will be in each new milestone.

Beta6 – Localization, Servicing, .NET 4.6 support, and more

In Beta6 we are working on supporting localization in the new request pipeline. We are also working to enable patching and servicing of the runtime including adding support for strong-naming assemblies. In Beta6 you will be able to target .NET 4.6 using the .NET Execution Environment (DNX). We will do work on response buffering and caching (via HTTP.SYS on Windows) and add distributed caching support via SQL Server.

Planned features: Runtime, MVC, Razor, Identity

Beta7 – Cross-platform

The primary focus for Beta7 will be to enable cross-platform development on .NET Core. This includes shipping the .NET Core based .NET Execution Environments for Mac and Linux, enabling the basic developer workflows and also setting up the acquisition story.

Planned features: Runtime, MVC, Razor, Identity

Beta8 – Feature complete!

Beta8 is the last major feature milestone planned before moving into a stabilization phase for RC1. We will work on enabling complete end-to-end experiences in Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code. We expect cross-platform .NET Core to be feature complete at this point.

Planned features: Runtime, MVC, Razor, Identity

RC1 – Stabilization

The focus for RC1 will be on polishing existing features, responding to customer feedback and improving performance and reliability. The goal is for RC1 to be a stable and production ready release.

Perhaps as interesting as what will be in the 1.0 release is what has already been cut, including Visual Basic support, SignalR 3, and Web Pages 4.  For more information, you can see the Roadmap post on GitHub.