Beware of Perpetual Software Becoming Services

• In an unprecedented move, Microsoft is discontinuing a feature when SQL Server 2019 leaves Mainstream support, rather than supporting it through Extended support.
• Although Microsoft gave three years’ notice, the move is highly unusual and marks a change in what perpetual licensing and support mean.
• Customers should carefully evaluate products or features that require Software Assurance or subscriptions prior to deployment.

In January 2022, Microsoft made a highly unusual announcement, stating that the Big Data Clusters feature first included in SQL Server 2019 to much fanfare is being retired and will only be supported until SQL Server 2019 leaves Mainstream support in Jan. 2025, less than three years after this announcement was made. This move implies that customers cannot guarantee that features they license with new versions of a product will necessarily be supported through the full 10-year support life cycle previously guaranteed with perpetually licensed Microsoft enterprise software. Customers should be prepared for this to occur again in the future, even with perpetually licensed products like SQL Server and Windows Server, which both still offer five years of Mainstream and five years of Extended support with their most recent releases.