PSA: SQL Server 2005 Reaches End-of-Life April 12, 2016

Just a word of warning: SQL Server 2005 will be retired from supportability by Microsoft on April 12, 2016.

This is not a new announcement, but there’s very few that actually watch and monitor every expiring product constantly – though there’s always a perpetual rotation. SQL 2005 got its start in – you guessed it – the 2005 product cycle, making it just over 10 years old when its finally put to rest.

SQL 2005 was a solid offering by the software company and has served customers well, but a lot has changed since the SQL 2005 release. Improvements, enhancements, new capabilities, new technologies, and the Cloud have all happened since SQL 2005 was new.

Microsoft, of course, will suggest that you upgrade your old databases and database serving software to the latest version, SQL 2014. That choice is ultimately up to you, but it does make a lot of sense. SQL Server 2014 is a beast of an upgrade, offering better performance, in-memory access for workloads, AlwaysOn (high availability), and two-way communication with the Cloud.