Migrate FROM SQL Server 2008 to 2012 -Understand the terms Discontinued features and Deprecated features properly

Once a feature appears on the list, it moves from bottom to the top, i.e. it is first marked as “Deprecated” and then “Discontinued”. We know of “Breaking change” comes later on in the product life cycle.

What this means is that if you want to know what features would not work with SQL Server 2012 (and you are currently using SQL Server 2008 R2), you need to refer the list of breaking changes and discontinued features in SQL Server 2012.

Courtesy: http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2012/05/18/sql-server-thinking-about-deprecated-discontinued-features-and-breaking-changes-while-upgrading-to-sql-server-2012-guest-post-by-nakul-vachhrajani/