As of SQL Server 2017 (and SQL Server 2019 preview), four data types are flagged for deprecation in a future version of SQL Server.
They are:
- timestamp
- text
- ntext
- image
Microsoft advises that these data types are currently in maintenance mode and they will be removed in a future version of SQL Server. This means you should avoid using these data types in new development work, and you should plan to modify applications that currently use them.