Blog post for OpenCensus compatibility deprecation

[Krishnachaitanyakc]

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Blog post announcing the deprecation of OpenCensus compatibility requirements in the OpenTelemetry Specification, completing the arc opened by the 2023 sunset of OpenCensus.

Follows the same staged pattern as recent deprecation announcements:

• Spec PR announced: Deprecate OpenCensus compatibility requirements opentelemetry-specification#5138 (merged 2026-06-12)
• 2023 sunset of OpenCensus: /blog/2023/sunsetting-opencensus/
• Zipkin precedent: Deprecate Zipkin exporter opentelemetry-specification#4715 + Add blog on zipkin deprecation #8487
• OpenTracing precedent: Deprecate OpenTracing compatibility requirements opentelemetry-specification#4938 + Blog post for OpenTracing compatibility deprecation #9386

Sponsor: @jack-berg (Specification SIG approver), per his approval comment on spec PR #5138 explicitly requesting this blog post.

Local checks green: check:markdown, check:spelling, check:format, check:text.

@open-telemetry/specs-approvers @jack-berg @pellared @aabmass PTAL — tagging @aabmass as the author of the 2023 sunset post for continuity-of-voice review.

Footnotes

1. Yes, I can answer maintainer questions about the content of this PR, without using AI. ↩

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