Visual Studio 2013 Retirement Announced: Insights to Know

Visual Studio is a top choice for developers due to its features, compatibility, and seamless support. However, now the Visual Studio 2013 version has been moved to the no-support category by Microsoft. You can only leverage its updates until April 2024.

To learn about the reasons behind stopping support, its impact, and what to do next, read further.

VS 2013 Retirement Insights: When and Why

In a recent announcement made by Microsoft, it was clarified that support for Visual Studio 2013 will be eliminated. After 9th April 2024, Microsoft will not be responsible for any update, patch, or improvement in the VS 2013 version.

In addition, the users will only be left with published guides, tutorials, and technical blogs to understand the 2013 VS version and resolve their queries.

Further, the reasons behind ending the support for Visual Studio 2013 version are as follows:

• The technology used for Visual Studio 2013 is now outdated.
• Numerous newer versions with better features and functionalities are available.
• The 2013 version has become incompatible with the latest operating systems.
• The advanced hacking tools can effortlessly help an attacker gain unauthorized access and illegitimately modify code.
• The VS 2013 version lacks in aligning with current industry and security standards.
• The extensions and plugins for Visual Studio lack compatibility with it.
• Microsoft wants its users to utilize the latest Visual Studio 2022 version for better productivity, performance, and compatibility.

Similarly, there can be more reasons for ending the support. However, the above-mentioned have been defined and announced by Microsoft itself.

Which Visual Studio 2013 Versions will be Impacted?

After the end of support, the following associated components and VS 2013 versions will be impacted:

• Premium Visual Studio 2013
• Professional Visual Studio 2013
• Community Visual Studio 2013
• Express for Web Visual Studio 2013
• Express for Windows Visual Studio 2013
• Express for Windows Desktop Visual Studio 2013
• Team Explorer Visual Studio 2013
• Test Professional Visual Studio 2013 Editions
• Visual C++ Redistributable
• Integrated and Isolated Shell Visual Studio 2013 

In addition, the components being removed from support are MS Azure Tools, SDK, SQL Server tools, deployment agents, release management, remote tools, and more.

What About Support For Other Visual Studio Versions?

If you are utilizing Visual Studio 2013 and are now thinking of moving to VS version 2015, 2017, or any other version. Then, you should know about their support timeframe. It will help you select a reliable visual studio version for the extended run.

Visual Studio Version	Support Details
Visual Studio 2015	Microsoft will provide support for version 2015 until 14th October 2025. It’s already in the extended support category, and you need to be utilizing Update 3 for continuous support.
Visual Studio 2017	Version 2017 is under extended support until 13th April 2027. During this period, only security updates will be released for a minimum of version 15.9.
Visual Studio 2019	Currently, the 16.11 version of 2019 Visual Studio is under mainstream support until 9th April 2014, and after that, Microsoft will move it under the extended support category, providing updates until 10th April 2029.
Visual Studio 2019 Preview Channel	The preview channel 2019 version is not receiving any updates. It’s recommended by Microsoft to use the 16.11 version of Visual Studio 2019.
Visual Studio 2022	The 2022 version of Visual Studio will be in mainstream support until 12th January 2027. And it’s expected that it will be transitioned to extended support after that.

What Next: Upgrade to Visual Studio 2022

Microsoft itself and other industry professionals are recommending the use of the Visual Studio 2022 version. Currently, it’s the latest IDE, and its support is going to be the longest among all. In addition, the latest technologies are used to build, manage, and support it.

Additionally, it offers the following features that help you stay ahead and improve development as well as business metrics.

• Artificial Intelligence support during development.
• Lightweight architecture for reliable resource utilization and higher speed.
• 3x faster file sharing for better collaboration.
• Long-Term servicing channels support for Professional and Enterprise editions.

Thus, to remain updated in the long run, it’s recommended to transition from outdated versions to the latest Visual Studio.

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