Microsoft today made official that the System.Data.OracleClient is being deprecated. In software terms this is code for “it’s not you, it’s me”. Breakups are never easy, but to ease the pain lets look as some of the facts:
It is easy to appreciate that deprecating an established component out of a platform as large as the .NET Framework is not an easy task. A long deprecation period such as this is exactly the right approach. It allows many people who may be depending on OracleClient to prepare, if not start migrating away from the OracleClient to a supported ADO.NET provider that has full throttle backing of a concrete roadmap and an ever expanding set of critical features.
If you’re seriously considering a migration from OracleClient, remember this might be an unexpected opportunity to retrofit your current or planned applications and upgrade your .NET to Oracle experience.
How could things change? Take performance upgrade as just one example:
I’d be interested in hearing other comments and thoughts on this topic too - comment below and let the debate begin!