v1.49.0 - Drop Python 3.8

What's Changed

• Drop Python 3.8 by @tony in #951

  Python 3.8 reached end-of-life on October 7th, 2024 (see devguide.python.org, Status of Python Versions, Unsupported versions

  See also: https://devguide.python.org/versions/#unsupported-versions

Full Changelog: v1.48.0...v1.49.0