You’re going to do what to the feature? Microsoft defines what it means by ‘deprecation’

Microsoft has explained what it means by “deprecation” – it doesn’t mean “the end”, it means “save the date.”

Perhaps with an eye to the impending end of support for most versions of Windows 10, Microsoft this week clarified the difference between deprecation – the end of active development – and the end of support, which is the point at which Microsoft nails shut the lid on a product’s coffin.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the earliest known use of the noun was in the mid-1500s, which is when large chunks of the legacy Windows code were probably written. Or does it just feel like that sometimes?

The OED defines the word as “Entreaty or earnest desire that something may be averted or removed.”

According to Microsoft:

Deprecated features in Windows 11 include the irritating Suggested Actions feature, designed to provide a helpful list of shortcuts when copying information, such as creating a calendar event when copying a date. The deprecation announcement for the feature came in 2024, although Microsoft did not set a date for actual removal.

Microsoft told us it was deprecating the veteran NTLM protocols in June 2024, and Microsoft began actually removing the technology from Windows later that year.

This all leads us to the thorny issue of Windows 10. Has it been deprecated? While the AI overview provided by Google says, “Yes, Windows 10 is considered deprecated, meaning Microsoft has ended major development and support for it,” we’d contend that the correct answer is no. Support will end for most versions on October 14, 2025, and development continues, as evidenced by the Windows Insider program.

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Heaven forbid that AI overviews might occasionally be wrong.

For Microsoft, a deprecation announcement is a planning thing. It is a way of saying that a service is going away at some point, and admins should stop onboarding new users.

As for Windows 10, however, the end of support is still looming. While the operating system is not deprecated, Microsoft has clearly stated the end-of-life date.

The company is fervently hoping that users are listening. ®