Technology moves fast. It’s what makes it fun to come to work every day. There’s always something new, and no day is like any other. Along with the new database-related releases in the last few weeks and months, there are also a few solutions that are winding down. I thought it would be worth taking the time to talk about a few older versions that are reaching their end-of-life.
MySQL 8.0 (LTS) EOL
The latest MySQL version MySQL 8.4.8 was released last month. If you’re lagging behind on the old MySQL 8.0 (LTS) which was released back in 2018, note that its end-of-life is coming up in April, just a little over a month away. If you don’t have a plan in place to upgrade, it’s time to get one figured out.
SQL Server 2016 EOL
On the SQL Server side, SQL Server 2016 reaches the end of extended support in July. You may be thinking, “Didn’t support for SQL Server 2016 end years ago?” and you would be partially correct. Mainstream support ended in 2021, but extended support still includes critical security updates and some additional support. If you’re running behind on upgrading, extended support gives you a little bit more of a buffer period before support ends completely. If you’re really desperate, there’s the SQL Server Extended Security Updates period that starts in July, but it will come at a cost.
Azure Data Studio EOL
Finally, we salute Azure Data Studio, which sees support end at the end of February. The recommendation from Microsoft continues to be to migrate to Visual Studio Code with the MSSQL extension for similar functionality as a developer and continue with SSMS as a database administrator. The MSSQL extension has a fair amount of issues, so we’ll have to wait and see how that transition goes and how much attention Microsoft gives to cleaning it up.
Meta EOL?
Speaking of “end-of-life” in software, in case you want an AI version of yourself to live on after you reach your very own end-of-life, Meta patented the idea of AI posting for you after you’ve died. As if the idea of dead internet theory wasn’t troubling enough, now we have AI ghosts to consider.
What a time to be alive.
Thanks for reading!
Chad Callihan 