The latest release is just called .NET 5

.NET Core was the name for the cross-platform version, but that's the default now and will be the future. No need to differentiate from the older Full Framework anymore.

Microsoft naming strikes again. I suspect they're only dropping the "core" now because they can - below 4 there's a need to disambiguate versus .net Framework versions.

And the road between .net core 1 > .net core 2 > .net core 3 was extremely bumpy.

Not to mention there is no upgrade path from .Net Framework to Core. Major missing features like WCF are still an issue in .Net 6. Migrating is a long and slow processes. Luckily we can use .Net Standard 2.0 as a bridge for libraries.

Or features like how Assembly reloading and MSIL code generation works.