In an announcement, Microsoft let users of older versions of Visual Studio know that they will no longer get support. These users are being encouraged to make the update to Visual Studio 2022. which has better security.
Here are the various versions of Visual Studio that will no longer be supported.
- Visual Studio 2012: support ends on January 9, 2023 for the IDE and its associated products, runtimes, and components. We recommend users upgrade to a newer version of Visual Studio.
- Visual Studio 2017: mainstream support ends April 12, 2022, and the product will transition to extended support until April 2027. During extended support we’ll provide fixes only for security issues. We recommend users move to the 15.9 supported baseline to remain under support.
- Visual Studio 2019 version 16.7: support ends April 12, 2022. We recommend users move to the version 16.11 supported baseline, or to Visual Studio 2022.
- Visual Studio 2019 Preview Channel: after April 2022, we will no longer provide updates to the Preview Channel of Visual Studio 2019. We recommend users migrate to either the Visual Studio 2019 Release Channel or to Visual Studio 2022 Preview to stay secure and receive the latest feature updates.
Once you make the upgrade to Visual Studio 2022, you will have access to three channels which include the Preview channel, the Current Channel, and the Long-term Servicing Channels. The Preview Channel is in place to serve as a platform where users can interact with the developers and give feedback in regards to the latest features and their functionality.
On the other hand, the Current Channel is where you can access these new features once they are ready for use. Microsoft further indicated that users should make all the updates that come to this channel to ensure that they are covered in terms of support. The Long-Term Servicing Channels essentially gives the developer more control over you once you embrace the new feature releases. Furthermore, Microsoft provides 18 months’ worth of security upon release.
Download Visual Studio 2022 to get accustomed to it before Microsoft stops providing support to the current version you are on.
