When you create any new .Net Core project in VS 2015, it automatically references net451 and dotnet5.4. You can remove the reference to net451, which limits you to only accessing the Core libraries. I was under the impression that if you reference anything outside of the Core, then the application would only be able to run on Windows, as the net451 libraries have not been ported over to Mac or Linux; however, in the article about creating cross platform applications, they reference net451.
http://docs.asp.net/en/latest/dnx/console.html
Ultimately, I just want to know if there is any advantage to removing the reference to net451, or should I just leave it there and expect to be able to run my application on Mac and Linux some day?