As a heavy user of other RDBMS data platforms, I have long appreciated the extra effort that Microsoft put into their data management and administration tool, the SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).

For most of the last decade, Microsoft made it inexpensive to wait. Each time an SQL Server version reached the end of its extended support – 2008, 2012, 2014 – the same escape hatch was available.

As SQL Server 2016 approaches end of support in July 2026, a look back at its groundbreaking innovations reveals how it reshaped Microsoft's data platform and why it's time to move forward. As I've ...