title: What is TDS Protocol Version 8.0 and why should I use it?
body: <p>I've been using FreeTDS with 8.0 protocol for some time to connect to a MSSQL Database, and things have worked great.  But, recently, things started to not work so great. I'll spare the details.</p>
  
  <p>So we decided we needed to know a bit more, and I am a bit confused by the following:</p>
  
  <p><a href="http://www.freetds.org/faq.html#Does.FreeTDS.support.Microsoft.servers" rel="noreferrer">Does FreeTDS support Microsoft servers?</a></p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Yes. Microsoft servers don't usually accept TDS 5.0 connections. Use
    one of versions 4.2, 7.0 or 8.0 of the protocol. See the <a href="http://www.freetds.org/userguide/choosingtdsprotocol.htm" rel="noreferrer">User Guide</a>
    for details.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p><a href="http://www.freetds.org/userguide/choosingtdsprotocol.htm" rel="noreferrer">User Guide</a></p>
  
  <pre><code>[No mention of 8.0 anywhere on the page.]
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>So, what is TDS Protocol Version 8.0 and why should I use it?</p>