SQL Server’s History Is the Version on the Box.

You opened a history URL. Keep it. This page is the lineage. It is not the 2022 metric, the 2025 metric, or the comparison.

SQL Server 2025 is what Microsoft lists as the current commercial product. The Product Terms for SQL Server (EA/EAS/SCE) show SQL Server 2025, date available 11/25. Prior version is SQL Server 2022 (11/22). Microsoft announced general availability on 18 November 2025. A lot of estates still run 2022, 2019, 2017, and 2016 that left extended support in July 2026.

The 2022 metric stays at the SQL Server 2022 licensing guide. The 2025 metric stays at the SQL Server 2025 licensing guide. The delta stays at the SQL Server 2022 versus 2025 comparison. This URL is the version file.

That’s the problem.

A feature tour is not a license position. Calling the product “Windows SQL Server” is not the product name. Calling 2022 current is stale. Mixing every version’s highlights into one page does not tell you which binaries are in production, which ones still have security updates, or whether Software Assurance still grants a step to 2025.

Do not invent a list price. Your number is the quote, the MLS, or the CSP subscription in front of you.

From Sybase on OS/2 to Microsoft’s engine

A Microsoft SQL Server engineering history (Euan Garden, 2006) is the primary source for the Sybase years. Microsoft and Sybase started a partnership in 1987. Ashton-Tate/Microsoft SQL Server 1.0 shipped in 1989 for OS/2. SQL Server 1.1 added Windows support in 1990. Version 4.2 for OS/2 shipped in 1992 and was the first release with significant Microsoft code in the product.

Do not date SQL Server 4.2 as the first Windows release in 1992. That is the OS/2 synch, not the NT port. Microsoft’s SQL Server versions wiki lists SQL Server 4.21 (SQLNT) in 1993 as the Windows NT line. Microsoft and Sybase dissolved the partnership in 1994. Microsoft then shipped SQL Server 6.0 (1995) and 6.5 (1996) from the NT code base.

SQL Server 7.0 was the rewrite. Engine, query processor, storage engine, and data access APIs were new. OLAP Services and Data Transformation Services landed in that release. It RTM’d in November 1998 and was generally available in January 1999. It was not “the first version to use the Windows NT kernel.” SQLNT already ran on Windows NT.

SQL Server 2000 followed in August 2000: multi-instance, a new clustering implementation, data mining, and SQLXML. It was not “the first version to support the Windows Server operating system.” The NT server line was already the platform.

2005 through 2016: CLR, columnstore, in-memory

SQL Server 2005 brought SQLCLR (CLR integration), XML in the engine, Service Broker, Integration Services as ground-up code, and Report Builder. It is not accurate to say 2005 was “the first version to use the .NET Framework” as if the engine ran on .NET. CLR integration is the Microsoft claim.

SQL Server 2008 (August 2008 on Microsoft’s versions wiki) and SQL Server 2008 R2 (May 2010) are still in a lot of CMDB dumps. Do not skip them because a timeline jumped from 2005 to 2012.

Columnstore indexes: SQL Server 2012 introduced the read-only nonclustered columnstore index. SQL Server 2014 introduced the updateable clustered columnstore index as primary storage. Microsoft’s versions wiki codes that release Hekaton, the In-Memory OLTP project. SQL Server 2016 made operational analytics on columnstore a mainstream path, including an updateable nonclustered columnstore on a rowstore table.

SQL Server 2012 lifecycle: started 20 May 2012. Extended support ended 13 July 2022. SQL Server 2014: started 5 June 2014. Extended support ended 10 July 2024. SQL Server 2016: started 1 June 2016. Extended support ended 15 July 2026.

If 2012, 2014, or 2016 is still in production without an Extended Security Updates subscription, you are past Microsoft’s fixed lifecycle, not “legacy but fine.” ESU is a time-boxed option Microsoft documents on the end of support overview. Do not invent an ESU price. Read the paper and the Lifecycle page in front of you.

Linux, containers, Azure-connected, then 2025

SQL Server 2017 (29 September 2017) brought the same Database Engine to Linux, Linux-based containers, and Windows. Python joined R in Machine Learning Services. See SQL Server on Linux and what’s new in SQL Server 2017. Lifecycle: mainstream ended 12 October 2022. Extended support ends 13 October 2027.

SQL Server 2019 (4 November 2019): Big Data Clusters, Always Encrypted with secure enclaves, data virtualization with PolyBase. Microsoft retired Big Data Clusters on 28 February 2025. Lifecycle: mainstream ended 1 March 2025. Extended support ends 9 January 2030.

SQL Server 2022 became generally available on 16 November 2022. Headline capabilities on Microsoft’s own pages: Azure Synapse Link for SQL, Microsoft Purview integration, Ledger, contained availability groups, Parameter Sensitive Plan optimization. Security branding on that release is Microsoft Defender for Cloud / Defender for SQL, not “Azure Defender.” See what’s new in SQL Server 2022. Lifecycle: mainstream ends 12 January 2028. Extended support ends 12 January 2033.

SQL Server 2025 is current. Native vector type and vector functions, Fabric mirroring, optimized locking. Product changes that belong on the 2025 pages, not as 2022 rules: Web edition is not available for 2025 (Microsoft states 2022 Web remains supported until January 2033); Data Quality Services and Master Data Services are discontinued; Synapse Link is discontinued in favor of Fabric mirroring; Developer splits into Enterprise Developer and Standard Developer; Standard compute is the lesser of 4 sockets or 32 cores. Keep those on the 2025 licensing guide and the 2022 versus 2025 comparison. Lifecycle: started 18 November 2025. Mainstream ends 7 January 2031. Extended support ends 7 January 2036.

Version timeline that matches Microsoft

Ship dates below come from Microsoft Lifecycle pages where they exist, from the 2022 and 2025 GA announcements, and from the Microsoft engineering history / versions wiki for the pre-lifecycle years. Do not treat a wiki year as a support-end date.

Why version still belongs in the license position

New version rights sit on Software Assurance or a subscription. Product Terms and Microsoft’s SQL Server 2025 licensing guidance both say it. A 2019 box with lapsed SA does not become 2025 because you opened a 2025 URL.

Failover replica rights, licensing a VM from 2022 onward, and unlimited virtualization are metric questions. They live on the 2022 and 2025 licensing URLs. The history question is: which version is actually installed, and is that version still in support.

SQL Per Core is still four core licenses per physical processor, not sixteen per server. That floor did not wait for 2025. Do not import the Windows Server 16-core rule. Worked examples stay on the 2022 guide and the 2025 guide.

What this URL must not steal

Keep these on their own slugs:

• 2022 licensing at microsoft-sql-server-2022-licensing-guide: Per Core versus Server+CAL, the 2022 VM rule (SA or subscription), the four-core floor, 2022 Software Assurance names.
• 2025 licensing at microsoft-sql-server-2025-licensing-guide: the 2025 metric, 2025 edition changes, Power BI Report Server on 2025.
• The delta at microsoft-sql-server-2022-vs-2025-features-licensing-and-pricing-comparison: what Microsoft changed between 2022 and 2025, and what it did not.

This URL: lineage, ship dates, support dates, mixed-version estate. Do not paste a 2-core list price. Microsoft’s public licensing pages fetched for this pack do not give you one to copy.

What to have this week

Do this before the next true-up, EA amendment, or CSP quote. Produce a SQL pack, not a pasted Microsoft wiki.

1. Every instance: version, edition, OSE type. Physical, VM, or container. Developer and Express called out, not mixed into production.
2. Support status against Microsoft Lifecycle, not a CMDB “in production” flag. 2016 left extended support on 15 July 2026. 2017 extended ends 13 October 2027.
3. Whether SA or a subscription sits on that paper. That bit decides new version rights, and whether a 2022-to-2025 step is even available.
4. What you own versus what you deployed. Microsoft Entitlements Manager is the MLS / entitlement side. Microsoft Deployment Manager is the SQL, Windows Server, and M365 requirement. Infrastructure Mapper is the topology file.

Can a non-specialist brief the CIO in fifteen minutes from the pack you have today? If the answer is “we run SQL Server” or “2022 is still current,” you do not have a SQL position.

Picture your procurement director, sixty days out. Finance has this history URL bookmarked. The quote walking in may already say 2025. Neither document is the estate. The number is version actually installed, support status, and whether SA is on the paper.

The decision layer, not another SQL wiki

You already have MAP, SCCM, or a CMDB full of SQL services. The gap is not another version chart. The gap is turning that estate into a file: version, edition, OSE, cores Microsoft will count, SA yes or no. LICENSEWARE sits on the inventory and ITSM tools you already run. It is not a rip-and-replace SAM suite. It is a decision layer: what matters, why it matters now, what should happen next. MDM is the deployment file. MEM is the entitlement file. LCM is the renewal file.

If you are heading into a SQL true-up or a 2016/2017 exit and your current tools still need three weeks to separate boxes past extended support from 2022 VMs that need SA, book an Audit Readiness Review. You can also start on the free plan and run the analysis on your own data.

Do not let the vendor frame this as “just buy 2025 cores, history is interesting.” Do not let your own side frame it as 2022 still being current, or as a 16-core-per-server Windows rule. The right question is: which version is installed, is it still in support, does the paper grant a step to 2025, and what do the 2022 and 2025 licensing URLs say about the metric. That is a data question, not a sales question.

The vendor will walk in with a number. The only question is whether you have yours first: current, defensible, and tied to the contract in front of you.

Sources

• SQL Server engineering history (Sybase partnership, 1.0 1989, 1.1 1990, 4.2 1992, 6.0/6.5, 7.0 RTM Nov 1998 / GA Jan 1999, 2000 Aug 2000, 2005 SQLCLR): https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/blogs/euanga/sql-mythbusters-sql-server-is-really-a-sybase-product-not-a-microsoft-one
• SQL Server versions wiki (4.21/SQLNT 1993, 6.0 1995, 6.5 1996, 2008 Aug 2008, 2008 R2 May 2010): https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/technet-wiki/783.sql-server-versions
• What’s new in columnstore indexes (2012 nonclustered, 2014 clustered, 2016 operational analytics): https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/indexes/columnstore-indexes-what-s-new
• SQL Server on Linux (2017 and later): https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/linux/sql-server-linux-overview
• What’s new in SQL Server 2017: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/sql-server/what-s-new-in-sql-server-2017
• What’s new in SQL Server 2019: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/sql-server/what-s-new-in-sql-server-2019
• What’s new in SQL Server 2022 (Synapse Link, Defender for SQL / Defender for Cloud, Ledger): https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/sql-server/what-s-new-in-sql-server-2022
• SQL Server 2022 GA (16 November 2022): https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/blog/2022/11/16/sql-server-2022-is-now-generally-available/
• What’s new in SQL Server 2025 (Web discontinued, DQS/MDS/Synapse Link discontinued, Developer split, Standard 32 cores): https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/sql-server/what-s-new-in-sql-server-2025
• SQL Server 2025 GA (18 November 2025): https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/sqlserver/sql-server-2025-is-now-generally-available/4470570
• Product Terms, SQL Server, EA/EAS/SCE (2025 availability 11/25; prior version 2022 11/22): https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/terms/productoffering/SQLServer/EAEAS
• SQL Server 2025 licensing guidance (models, four cores per processor, VM licensing needs SA or subscription): https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/guidance/SQL
• End of support overview: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/sql-server/end-of-support/sql-server-end-of-support-overview
• Lifecycle, SQL Server 2012: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/microsoft-sql-server-2012
• Lifecycle, SQL Server 2014: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/sql-server-2014
• Lifecycle, SQL Server 2016: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/sql-server-2016
• Lifecycle, SQL Server 2017: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/sql-server-2017
• Lifecycle, SQL Server 2019 (Big Data Clusters retired 28 Feb 2025): https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/sql-server-2019
• Lifecycle, SQL Server 2022: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/sql-server-2022
• Lifecycle, SQL Server 2025: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/sql-server-2025
• Editions and supported features of SQL Server 2022: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/sql-server/editions-and-components-of-sql-server-2022