Deprecation Plans For ArcGIS 10 And ArcGIS 10.1. What You Need To Be Aware Of, An Important Read!

The deprecation plans for ArcGIS 10 and ArcGIS 10.1 has been released. With every release, platforms not being used as much anymore or at the end of their supportability are assessed. With platforms, these can include operating systems, databases, development environments, hardware and the like.

Periodically, it is necessary to deprecate specific functionalities and/or platforms to continue delivering optimal support for the remaining Esri software functionalities and platforms.

At the ArcGIS 10 and upcoming ArcGIS 10.1 releases, Esri has a number of changes in our functionality and platform support. The ArcGIS 10 and 10.1 Deprecation Plan document provides details on these planned deprecations.

This document is comprehensive and covers a number of the product groups across the range.

Some of the key changes to note:

ArcGIS Desktop 10

• ArcGIS 10.0 is the last release of Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA); we will no longer support VBA beyond the ArcGIS 10.0 release. Microsoft no longer promotes or updates VBA. ESRI strongly recommends that no further development occur on this platform. Beyond ArcGIS 10.0, ESRI will no longer be able to support VBA as a development platform. Users who have custom functionality built using VBA should actively plan strategies to rewrite their applications using a supported development language such as Python, VB.NET, or C# so their applications continue to be operational and supported in future releases of ArcGIS. 

ArcInfo Workstation 10

• ArcGIS 10.0 is the last planned release of ArcInfo Workstation. Users will continue to be able to use their existing ArcInfo Workstation 10 version as the rest of the ArcGIS products and technologies evolve, but we will not release newer versions of ArcInfo Workstation.

ArcIMS 10

• The next major release after ArcGIS 10.0 will be the last planned release for ArcIMS. Users can continue to use existing versions of ArcIMS after this time; however, we will no longer provide new releases.

ArcGIS Server 10

• The next major release after ArcGIS 10.0 will be the last planned release for ArcIMS. Users can continue to use existing versions of ArcIMS after this time; however, we will no longer provide new releases. ArcGIS Server 10.0 is the last ArcGIS Server release with support for local connections from Web ADF applications. The 10.1 Web ADF applications will only support local connections to Server versions prior to 10.1. We recommend developers using local connections for accessing fine-grained ArcObjects migrate their business logic to Server Object Extensions. For Web ADF based editing applications (all of which use Local connections), we urge users to look at alternative web editing tools based in the ArcGIS Web Mapping APIs. 

• ArcGIS Server 10.0 is the last release with support for 32-bit operating systems. The next release of ArcGIS Server (10.1) will run natively as a 64-bit application, requiring 64-bit operating systems.

• ArcGIS Server 10.0 is the last release supporting publishing non-optimized map documents (MXD files). The next major release will only support publishing optimized maps (MSDs) as that is the best practice for map publishing.

ArcGIS Image Server 10

• ArcGIS 10.0 is the last release of the stand-alone ArcGIS Image Server product. This product has been replaced with the ArcGIS Server Image Extension.

ArcGIS Desktop 10.1

• ArcGIS 10.1 will no longer support Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).

ArcInfo Workstation 10.1

• There are no plans to release a new version of ArcInfo Workstation at ArcGIS 10.1. However, ArcInfo Workstation 10.0 will be able to be used in conjunction with newer versions of ArcGIS Desktop. Users will continue to be able to use their existing ArcGIS 10.0 version, but we will not release newer versions.

ArcIMS 10.1

• ArcGIS 10.1 will be the last planned release for ArcIMS. At ArcGIS 10.1 ArcIMS will more to the “Mature” phase in the Product Lifecycle.  Users can continue to use existing versions of ArcIMS after this time; however, we will no longer provide new releases. Users should develop a plan and migrate to the ArcGIS Server and Web API technology.

ArcGIS Server 10.1

• ArcGIS Server 10.1 will be the last planned release for the ArcGIS Server Web ADFs (Application Developer Framework) for both Microsoft .NET and Java.

• ArcGIS Server 10.1 will no longer support local connections (DCOM connections) from Web ADF applications. ArcGIS Server 10.1 will be a web services (REST and SOAP) server only.

• ArcGIS Server 10.1 will be the last planned release for the ArcGIS Server Manager Web Mapping Application (Microsoft .Net and Java).

• ArcGIS Server 10.1 will no longer support 32-bit operating systems. ArcGIS 10.1 will exclusively support 64-bit operating systems.

• ArcGIS Server 10.1 will no longer support publishing non-optimized map documents (MXD files). ArcGIS 10.1 will only support publishing optimized maps (MSDs) as that is the best practice for map publishing. At ArcGIS Server 10.1, optimized map services (MSDs) will be enhanced to support many of the capabilities that are currently only available through MXD-based map services.

ArcGIS Image Server 10.1

• ArcGIS 10.1 will no longer support a stand-alone ArcGIS be replaced with the ArcGIS Server Image Extension.

There are many more changes in platform and functionality for ArcGIS 10 and ArcGIS 10.1. Please have a look at the complete list here: http://downloads2.esri.com/support/…

Note the importance of these changes. There are some big changes coming so it’s important to be aware of these changes when making future decisions.