Confusion About .Net vs .Net Core vs .Net Standard vs .Net Framework

I'm kind of new to .NET area.

There is big confusion about all these which I really couldn't figure out. I searched a lot but couldn't find any simple and straight forward explanation for .NET (also by mean all other different names of versions like in title as well)

So my question is why are there different names of .NET(as I wrote in the title). Which one is for who?

Here is the simplified explanation of .NET Standard, including the different names and versions of .NET:

.NET Standard: This is a specification that defines a common set of APIs that can be used by .NET applications. This makes it possible to write code that can run on different .NET platforms, such as .NET Framework, .NET Core, and .NET 5 and beyond.

.NET Framework: This is the original version of the .NET platform, which is mostly used for building Windows desktops and web applications. It is still supported, but it is considered a legacy technology.

.NET Core: This is a cross-platform version of .NET that was introduced to overcome some limitations of the .NET Framework. It is lightweight, fast, and suitable for building cross-platform applications that can run on Windows, macOS, and Linux. .NET Core is the recommended choice for new projects.

.NET 5 and beyond Microsoft decided to simplify the naming and converge .NET Core and .NET Framework into a single platform called .NET 5. This new platform is fully supported and is the recommended choice for new projects.

In summary, if you are starting a new project, you should use the latest version of .NET Standard, such as .NET Standard 2.1 or later. This will give you the most modern features and improvements, and it will also make your application more cross-platform.

.NET is a cross language set of compilers and tools that are supported by an underlying set of runtime libraries. C# is the major .NET language, but also VB.NET and F# are also .NET languages.

.NET Framework is Windows only. The final version (v4.8.x) it is not actively being developed, but that doesn't mean it won't get security updates and it will be supported for as long as Window 11 is supported (and may be later OSs).
https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/platform/support/policy/dotnet-framework

.NET Core is supported on multiple operating systems (including Windows, Linux, macOs, IOS, Android OS and others). It was completely rewritten from scratch and although it shares a large compatibility with .NET framework, it is very different in many places.
https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/dotnet/what-is-dotnet

.NET 5 and above is just .NET core version 5 and above. 5 was chosen to be higher than both .NET core 3, and .NET framework 4.8. (there was no .NET core 4.X)

.NET Standard is an in-between library that allows code to be shared between .NET Framework and .NET Core. In theory, if you compile code to .NET standard, it should be compatible with Framework and Core.

If you are looking for advice for which version of .NET to write code for (not really allowed on SO), it would generally be .NET core, unless you require one of the many Windows only APIs that are only available in .NET Framwork (although things like WCF is now on .NET core).