Microsoft Office 2019 Will Only Work On Windows 10

Microsoft has confirmed that the next ‘perpetual’ version of its Office suite will only work on Windows 10.

Office 2019 will debut during the second half of this year, delivering updates to Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, along with its servers for Exchange, SharePoint and Skype for Business.

The cloud-based Office 365 promises constant updates, the ability to access and share files across multiple devices and simplified management for IT departments, but Microsoft says it recognises that not all businesses are ready, or able, to move to the cloud.

Microsoft Office 2019

New formulas and charts will make data analysis for Excel more powerful. Visual animation features—like Morph and Zoom—will add polish to PowerPoint presentations. Server enhancements will include updates to IT manageability, usability, voice, and security.

However customers will have to be running Windows 10 or the next long-term servicing channel (LTSC) release of Windows Server to benefit from the new features.

Microsoft has been pushing Windows 10, and its Microsoft 365 suite, to enterprises for several years and hopes the decision will encourage those who are still using Windows 7 to upgrade. Indeed, Windows 7, rather than Vista or 8, was the preferred alternative to the widely-used Windows XP.

Another major change is that Office 2019 will only receive five years of ‘mainstream support’ and an additional two years of ‘extended support’. This contrasts with previous editions that were granted five years of mainstream cover and five years of extended cover.

“Modern software not only provides new features to help people do their best work, but also new, more efficient manageability solutions and more comprehensive approaches to security,” explained Microsoft. “Software that is more than a decade old, and hasn’t benefited from this innovation, is difficult to secure and inherently less productive. As the pace of change accelerates, it has become imperative to move our software to a more modern cadence.”

Office 365 has proved massively successful for Microsoft, with more than 100 million active subscribers.

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