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From this article, I guess that the name 'Denali' isn't used any longer for Microsoft SQL Server 2012, which now seems to be the official name.

But I want to know, what is the meaning of 'Denali is SO last month'.

I found these Wikipedia sites SO nor so. But I can't get the answer from them.

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7  
It's just an emphasized "so" (adverbial meaning 1 in the Wiktionary link), not an acronym or abbreviation or anything. – Marthaª Oct 21 '11 at 14:07
@Marthaª I'd say the particular nuance is not just "very", but adverbial meaning 6 in Wiktionary, a US slang "very much" as in "that is so not true"; OAAD gives this in meaning 8, marked as informal and says it is used "often with a negative, before adjectives and noun phrases". – aedia λ Oct 22 '11 at 3:11

2 Answers

up vote 5 down vote accepted

It's a normal "so" but capitalised for extra emphasis. The writer is saying the Denali name is redundant and oh so extremely old-fashioned.

"So last month" is usually a fashion term that demonstrates how fast the styles change, and that any stylish fashion victim wouldn't be caught dead wearing last month's designs.

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That is, 'so' in this kind of context is very acceptable synonym for 'very'. Though difficult to recognize, the prescriptivist should (!) have problems with an adverb 'so' modifying a noun 'last month' (the time phrase 'last month' is acting like an adverb in a telescoped manner). – Mitch Oct 21 '11 at 14:57
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The emphasis is a parody of Californian teen dialect (Valley-speak). It's a so with an exaggerated long 'o' to mean 'very'. – mgb Oct 21 '11 at 15:22
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@Mitch: I don't think this usage of 'so' is very acceptable. I can get away here with saying it's not so acceptable, because I'm contrasting my concept of acceptability with yours which is already "in the frame", so to speak. But (Valley-speak, etc., excepted), in formal speech/writing 'so' usually requires something which is being compared against. – FumbleFingers Oct 21 '11 at 17:30
@FumbleFingers: understood. modify what I said with '...in that context', which is pretty informal. – Mitch Oct 21 '11 at 17:47
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@FumbleFingers: ...is so 'on my lawn' (as in 'kids, get the hell off...') – Mitch Oct 21 '11 at 18:09
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up vote 2 down vote

In this case, the SO could just as easily have been so.

It's for emphasis.

Like..

This question is so stupid.

Just kidding.

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