New features and upgrades include ‘major’ performance improvements in runtime and framework, support of six new platforms, including macOS High Sierra and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2, and dotnet restore becoming an implicit command. The .NET Standard 2.0 spec, which you can find here, was finalised at the same time as .NET Core 2.0.
Users who want to get started with .NET Core 2.0 can use templates already in Visual Studio 2017, or create new applications at the command line with dotnet new. Those who continue to use applications on .NET Core 1.0 and 1.1 will automatically continue in those runtimes unless explicitly updated.
The company says a lot of the performance changes over the past year have come from the .NET community rather than from Microsoft. Microsoft called out Samsung and Qualcomm for specific thanks in the announcement.
