Microsoft Explains Deprecation

When I saw that Microsoft was removing Dev Home from Windows 11, I mentioned offhandedly to my wife that Microsoft was suddenly deprecating features more aggressively. She asked, “what does deprecation mean?”

Fair enough.

Deprecation is an odd term, but Microsoft has used it for so long, I guess I stopped thinking about it. When Microsoft reveals that it has deprecated a feature–typically, in Windows–it means that it is no longer being updated and will be removed in a future update. For example, Microsoft revealed in September 2023 that WordPad was deprecated, and then it removed this app from Windows 11 in version 24H2 a year later.

But deprecation is apparently more nuanced than that. And this week, Microsoft issued a blog post explaining what deprecation means in the context of its product support agreements.

“Deprecation is not the end point of the lifecycle,” Microsoft’s Chris Morrissey writes in a new post to the Windows IT Pro Blog. “Lifecycle describes the length of time something lasts. Deprecation simply means that a Windows feature, functionality, or service is no longer in active development, and it will be retired and removed from a future release.”

As Morrissey explains, Microsoft announces a feature (or product) deprecation so that customers can get ready for a coming change. He calls it a “save the date courtesy” to alert us about something that will be retired or removed in the future. Deprecated features and products are still supported normally, he adds, and the amount of time between a deprecation announcement and its actual removal can go on, “sometimes,” for years.

Microsoft maintains a page on Microsoft Learn for deprecated Windows features, if you’re curious. Most recently, it added the little-used Suggested actions feature to the list, back in December.