As we embark on this journey to support the new technology that is out here.  Regardless of the thoughts that anyone might have regarding proper fitment etc.  I think a healthy discussion around the migration plan and development recommendations needs to be an early thought in this discussion.  A few key points and areas of consideration lead me to this.  This is based on my own questions as well as those of my customers in the past months.

1. At the current time the future is a bit cloudy.  New sites are being built, some with literally months and months of effort with multiple team members to build.  If they select DNN as a new platform, or even if they are currently on it but continuing to prosper what is the future like for all of this work.  How soon can a migration plan, or even a "quick tips" recommendation be created to ensure that they will have as seamless of a transition as possible.  
2. Along with the above for new development.  WHat about those with older modules.  Many of us have code that might have been written in the mid-2000's and it still works.  Is there any effort that we should take today to help bring these elements forward?  
3. Should the long overdue discussion of removing Deprecated methods actually be done to help make things easier.  Some of the recent 7.x re-structuring of API's has made the environment VERY hard for new users to come into the environment.

I have a few ideas around this.  For example for #2 above, I have been recommending to people that they compile against the latest release and resolve any Deprecated method calls at a minimum.  

Just a few thoughts on the "migration" that will be part of this.  

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-Mitchel Sellers
Microsoft MVP, ASPInsider, DNN MVP
CEO/Director of Development - IowaComputerGurus Inc.


Visit mitchelsellers.com for my mostly DNN Blog and support forum.

Visit IowaComputerGurus.com for free DNN Modules, DNN Performance Tips, DNN Consulting Quotes, and DNN Technical Support Services

BTW it's easy to follow along with any changes by watching jira or by looking into github e.g. https://github.com/dnnsoftware/Dnn.Pl... shows that work is underway to extract all the admin/host modules to their own installable modules, as well as adding support for MVC .

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Realistically, DNN 7.x still has at least 3-4 more useful years for the platform. Even once DNN neXt comes out there will be plenty of time for customers and consultants to figure out how to transition to the new platform.  People should not get too excited today about what the migration path looks like just yet, but as Cathal points out, there are some things you can do today which will help minimize the amount of migration effort needed in the future.  As we get closer to Summer, things will come more into focus with DNN neXt as we will have some working code so people can get a better feel for the next generation.  

Also, beyond just thinking about what the migration path looks like, it would be a good time to start educating yourself on ASP.Net 5 and possibly Entity Framework 7.  There is a bit of a learning curve involved if your primary experience this past decade has been Web Forms and DAL.  While nothing is completely set in stone, we know that the current DAL will not run on the Core CLR.  We rely on an ancient part of the Enterprise Library (Data Access Block) and PetaPoco, both of which are not compatible.  As a result we are re-looking at our Data Access options and my use this opportunity to use something a little more modern as our base data access technology.

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Joe Brinkman
DNN Corp.