Hi. I recently noticed that sqla 16 was available. Two questions...

  • For how much longer will sqla 12 be actively supported?
  • What happened to versions 13, 14 and 15? I know the number 13 is a concern for some folks, but what about 14 and 15?

Thanks, Doug

asked 06 May '13, 09:31

dejstone's gravatar image

dejstone
959405069
accept rate: 0%

edited 06 May '13, 10:17

Volker%20Barth's gravatar image

Volker Barth
40.1k361549819


I will answer your questions in reverse order:

What happened to version 13, 14, and 15?

In some parts of the world (primarily North America), the number 13 has negative connotations, so marketing decided to avoid the use of that number. In some parts of the world (primarily Asia), the number 14 has negative connotations, so marketing decided to avoid the use of that number.

We could have used 15, but this major release was coming out at nearly the same time as Sybase IQ version 16 and Sybase ASE version 16, so marketing made the decision to synchronize the version numbers, and hence the decision was made to use 16.

SQL Anywhere version 16 is the next major release of SQL Anywhere after version 12.

How much longer with SQL Anywhere 12 be supported?

I would like to distinguish between 2 aspects of "support" as it relates to previous versions of SQL Anywhere:

  1. The ability to talk to technical support and receive help and advice.
  2. The ability to have bugs fixed by SQL Anywhere engineering, and have EBFs released with those bug fixes.

Answer part 1: It is my understanding that as long as a customer has a valid support plan, the can talk to technical support and receive help and advice on any version of SQL Anywhere. They also can continue to use this forum to receive help.

Answer part 2: It has historically been the practice of the SQL Anywhere engineering team to actively support 2 major releases with bug fixes and EBFs (or the SAP term "SP"). In the past, shortly after a major release, 1 year notice is given for the end of engineering support for the oldest supported version.

How does this relate to today? Now that version 16 is available on all platforms, I would expect that the 1 year notice for end-of-engineering support for version 11 to be announced shortly.

If the historical practice continues, then I would expect to see version 12 continue to have engineering support until at least 1 year after the next major release. This of course prompts the question about when the next major release will occur. Obviously I cannot say anything except to observe that historical practice is that major releases in the past have happened approximately every 2 or 3 years.

Chris

permanent link

answered 06 May '13, 10:44

Chris%20Kleisath's gravatar image

Chris Kleisath
3.3k93037
accept rate: 37%

v16 is the immediate successor to v12, i.e. there are no versions v13 - v15. For a reasoning on the number, see that discussion here:

What is going to be the real name for SQL Anywhere 13?

Or, to cite from Breck' great article Top 10 Cool New Features in SAP Sybase SQL Anywhere 16:

SAP Sybase SQL Anywhere 16 is the first new release of SAP Sybase SQL Anywhere since version 12 in 2010... that’s a pretty good track record, skipping over one version number per year for three years.

It is possible that version numbers 13 and 14 were passed over for the usual reasons of triskaidekaphobia and tetraphobia (fear of the numbers 13 and 4), and it is also possible that number 15 was skipped because it’s been used by SAP Sybase ASE since, well, forever, and SAP Sybase SQL Anywhere 15 would perpetuate the myth that SQL Anywhere and ASE are somehow related.


Currently, even v11.0.1 is a fully supported version and has not yet been EOL'ed, so I bet v12 will be actively supported for at least three more years. That's my (i.e. a custumor's) guess, not more.

permanent link

answered 06 May '13, 10:11

Volker%20Barth's gravatar image

Volker Barth
40.1k361549819
accept rate: 34%

edited 06 May '13, 10:14

Your answer
toggle preview

Follow this question

By Email:

Once you sign in you will be able to subscribe for any updates here

By RSS:

Answers

Answers and Comments

Markdown Basics

  • *italic* or _italic_
  • **bold** or __bold__
  • link:[text](http://url.com/ "title")
  • image?![alt text](/path/img.jpg "title")
  • numbered list: 1. Foo 2. Bar
  • to add a line break simply add two spaces to where you would like the new line to be.
  • basic HTML tags are also supported

Question tags:

×438
×260
×20
×19
×3

question asked: 06 May '13, 09:31

question was seen: 4,321 times

last updated: 06 May '13, 10:44