This editorial was originally published on Apr 27, 2015. It is being republished as Steve is at SQL in the City Christchurch.

Have we got a deal for you! Microsoft is concerned about the health of your company and is doing something about it.

There's a trend in modern society of obesity, complacency, and general laziness. Not only is this bad for society in general, but it also affects your health. So we have a new solution for you, designed specificially to combat this degenerative lifestyle in an easy way.

The Upgrade Treadmill!

Designed by the engineers up in Redmond, this highly engineered device ensures that you won't sit around getting stagnant on those junky-technologies and deep-fried solutions. Instead we've built a system of carefully selected products released on a regular cycle that ensures you'll be running for the rest of your career.

And it's easy to get started. Just call 1-800-SHARE-PRICE and enroll now in our assurance program. With a short lifetime and quick expiration, our automated reminders to your boss will ensure that you never slack off and slow down your pace of upgrades.

It's all in fun, but there's some seriousness here. I originally wrote this awhile back when it seemed Microsoft was pressing for upgrades to SQL Server 2008 R2 after a relatively short development cycle post SQL Server 2008. However the piece got lost in the shuffle. I found it recently and was reminded of the sentiment when I saw a post to upgrade away from SQL Server 2005 with support ending.

There are good reasons to upgrade; just be sure the reasons are valid for your instance and environment.