Andreas Wolter gives us the behind-the-scenes view of things:
SQL Server 2025 was released at the end of last year. While most attention has gone to new features, this release also discontinued several existing ones—a notable first in recent SQL Server versions.
The full list is available here: Discontinued services and deprecated features
One item deserves particular attention: Purview access policies.
Read on to learn the intent behind this, the struggle that led to using Purview instead of Azure RBAC, and why there isn’t a solid alternative currently available.