Question

I am working on a business case for using SQL Server CE for the upcoming project and I have a hard time convincing the upper management to go with this database solution. Their impression is that SQL Server CE will not be supported by Microsoft in the future. During my research, I have not found any evidence for this but I also have not found any official roadmap that indicates otherwise. Does anyone know any good references that I could use in my business case? I have also emailed the CE team with the same question, but I have not heard back from them yet.

Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

I can’t find a support lifecycle for the recently released SQL Server CE 4, but the previous version 3.5 will be supported until 2013:

Microsoft Product Lifecycle Search
Products Released | General Availability Date | Mainstream Support End Date
SQL Server Compact 3.5 | 19/02/2008 | 09/04/2013

so chances are the new build will be supported for about five years too – or longer if it gets bundled with the next version of Visual Studio as it’ll likely pick up the VS support lifetime. Their general Business and Developer products support policy is

Microsoft will offer a minimum of 10 years of support for Business and Developer products. Mainstream Support for Business and Developer products will be provided for 5 years or for 2 years after the successor product (N+1) is released, whichever is longer. Microsoft will also provide Extended Support for the 5 years following Mainstream support or for 2 years after the second successor product (N+2) is released, whichever is longer. Finally, most Business and Developer products will receive at least 10 years of online self-help support.