Update README and related files

README.md

@@ -1,39 +1,35 @@
-# .NET News & Release Notes
+# .NET Release Notes
 
-Welcome to the home of .NET news & release notes to help you stay up to date with all of latest previews and releases. 
+Welcome to the home of .NET [release notes](./release-notes/README.md) and [news](https://github.com/dotnet/core/discussions/categories/news).
 
-Follow our [GitHub Discussions](https://github.com/dotnet/core/discussions), where you will find the latest new on preview releases, service releases, and CVEs for .NET.
+## Releases
 
-You can subscribe to news posts with the following RSS feeds:
-
-| Category | GitHub Discussions | RSS Feed |
-| --- | :--: | :--: |
-| All Discussions | [🔗](https://github.com/dotnet/core/discussions) | [🔗](https://github.com/dotnet/core/discussions.atom) |
-| News | [🔗](https://github.com/dotnet/core/discussions/categories/news) | [🔗](https://github.com/dotnet/core/discussions/categories/news.atom) |
-| General  | [🔗](https://github.com/dotnet/core/discussions/categories/general) | [🔗](https://github.com/dotnet/core/discussions/categories/general.atom) |
-
-## Release Notes
-
-The following tables lists [releases](./releases.md) under active development or support:
+[Releases](./releases.md) under active support or development:
 
 |  Version  | Release Date | Support | Latest Patch Version | End of Support |
 | :-- | :-- | :-- | :-- | :-- |
 | [.NET 9](release-notes/9.0/README.md) | November 12, 2024 | [STS][policies] | [9.0.0-preview.7][9.0.0-preview.7] | May 12, 2026 |
 | [.NET 8](release-notes/8.0/README.md) | [November 14, 2023](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/announcing-dotnet-8/) | [LTS][policies] | [8.0.8][8.0.8] | November 10, 2026 |
 | [.NET 6](release-notes/6.0/README.md) | [November 8, 2021](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/announcing-net-6/) | [LTS][policies] | [6.0.33][6.0.33]  | November 12, 2024 |
 
-You can find release notes for all releases, including out-of-support releases, in the [release-notes](release-notes) directory.
-
 [9.0.0-preview.7]: release-notes/9.0/preview/preview7/9.0.0-preview.7.md
 [8.0.8]: release-notes/8.0/8.0.8/8.0.8.md
 [6.0.33]: release-notes/6.0/6.0.33/6.0.33.md
+[policies]: release-policies.md
 
-## Release Information
-
-* [Download .NET](https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet)
+* [Release notes](./release-notes/README.md)
+* [Binaries and installers](https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet)
 * [Installation docs](https://learn.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/install/)
 * [dotnet-install scripts](https://learn.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/tools/dotnet-install-script)
-* [Releases Index][releases-index.json] -- Index for all release channels in JSON format
 
-[releases-index.json]: https://dotnetcli.blob.core.windows.net/dotnet/release-metadata/releases-index.json
-[policies]: release-policies.md
+## Discussions
+
+Follow [GitHub Discussions](https://github.com/dotnet/core/discussions), where you will find the latest news on releases, including PSAs and CVEs.
+
+You can subscribe to discussions with the following RSS feeds:
+
+| Category | GitHub Discussions | RSS Feed |
+| --- | :--: | :--: |
+| All Discussions | [🔗](https://github.com/dotnet/core/discussions) | [🔗](https://github.com/dotnet/core/discussions.atom) |
+| News | [🔗](https://github.com/dotnet/core/discussions/categories/news) | [🔗](https://github.com/dotnet/core/discussions/categories/news.atom) |
+| General  | [🔗](https://github.com/dotnet/core/discussions/categories/general) | [🔗](https://github.com/dotnet/core/discussions/categories/general.atom) |

release-notes/README.md

@@ -1,27 +1,77 @@
 # .NET Release Notes
 
-The following table lists [releases](../releases.md) under active development or support:
+[Releases](../releases.md) under active support or development:
 
 |  Version  | Release Date | Support | Latest Patch Version | End of Support |
 | :-- | :-- | :-- | :-- | :-- |
 | [.NET 9](9.0/README.md) | November 12, 2024 | [STS][policies] | [9.0.0-preview.7][9.0.0-preview.7] | May 12, 2026 |
 | [.NET 8](8.0/README.md) | [November 14, 2023](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/announcing-dotnet-8/) | [LTS][policies] | [8.0.8][8.0.8] | November 10, 2026 |
 | [.NET 6](6.0/README.md) | [November 8, 2021](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/announcing-net-6/) | [LTS][policies] | [6.0.33][6.0.33]  | November 12, 2024 |
 
-You can find release notes for all releases, including out-of-support releases, in the [release-notes](.) directory.
-
 [9.0.0-preview.7]: 9.0/preview/preview7/9.0.0-preview.7.md
 [8.0.8]: 8.0/8.0.8/8.0.8.md
 [6.0.33]: 6.0/6.0.33/6.0.33.md
+[policies]: ../release-policies.md
 
-* [Release note formats](./formats.md)
-* [Releases index][releases-index.json]
+* [Binaries and installers](https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet)
+* [Installation docs](https://learn.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/install/)
 
-## Download .NET
+You can find release notes for all releases in the [release-notes](.) directory, in markdown and [JSON formats](./schemas/README.md). This content is [licensed](./license-information.md) for broad use.
 
-* [Download .NET](https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet)
-* [Installation docs](https://learn.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/install/)
-* [dotnet-install scripts](https://learn.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/tools/dotnet-install-script)
+## Monthly patch release notes
 
-[releases-index.json]: https://dotnetcli.blob.core.windows.net/dotnet/release-metadata/releases-index.json
-[policies]: ../release-policies.md
+Patch releases are published monthly, often including fixes for vulnerabilities (AKA CVEs) that are disclosed at the same time.
+
+Release notes include:
+
+- Links to binaries
+- Notable changes, including CVEs
+- Compatibility information
+- Updated packages
+
+Example markdown files:
+
+- [6.0/6.0.32/6.0.32.md](./6.0/6.0.32/6.0.32.md)
+- [8.0/8.0.1/8.0.1.md](./8.0/8.0.1/8.0.1.md)
+
+Example JSON files:
+
+- [Major releases index](./releases-index.json)
+- [Major release](./9.0/releases.json)
+
+`releases-index.json` and all the files it references are stored in blob storage and in GitHub. We use GitHub for easy discoverability of the files and Azure Blob Storage as our production platform.
+
+It is straightforward to programmatically transform the [blob storage links](https://dotnetcli.blob.core.windows.net/dotnet/release-metadata/releases-index.json) to [`raw` GitHub links](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dotnet/core/main/release-notes/releases-index.json) should that be desired.
+
+Note: monthly previews are published in the same way, often on the same day. They are not supported so do not include CVE information. However, Release Candidate releases follow our ["Go Live" policy](https://github.com/dotnet/core/blob/main/release-policies.md) and may include CVE information.
+
+## Monthly preview release notes
+
+We typically release a preview for the next major version each month. These include detailed feature information.
+
+Examples:
+
+- [.NET 9 Preview 1](./9.0/preview/preview1/README.md)
+- [.NET 9 Preview 6](./9.0/preview/preview6/README.md)
+
+This content is used as source material for [What's New](https://learn.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/whats-new/) pages in official Microsoft docs.
+
+Preview release notes are always in a `preview` folder. This approach was adopted so that preview releases do not distract from stable releases once preview releases are no longer relevant.
+
+## Supported OS
+
+Supported OS information is published for each major release. This information indicates to users which OSes they can expect an app (or the .NET SDK) to run on for a given .NET version. It also indicates which OSes are supported and when they transitioned to EOL status.
+
+Examples:
+
+- [.NET 8 Supported OSes (json)](./8.0/supported-os.json)
+- [.NET 8 Supported OSes (markdown)](./8.0/supported-os.md)
+
+## OS packages
+
+OS package information is published for each major release. This information indicates which packages must be installed on a given distro for a .NET app (or the .NET SDK) to run. [.NET packages](../linux.md) are available for multiple distros, which automatically install all required packages.
+
+Examples:
+
+- [.NET 9 OS packages (json)](./9.0/os-packages.json)
+- [.NET 9 OS packages (markdown)](./9.0/os-packages.md)