Microsoft Confirms Office 2019

Microsoft has confirmed it will sell another standalone edition of the Office suite for people who don't want an annual subscription. It will receive updates, but only for an unspecified period.

Despite the name, Office 2019 will come out in the second half of next year. It's described by Microsoft as both a "perpetual release" and a "perpetual update", which is a somewhat unwieldy way to distinguish it from Office 365. (Source: office.com)

Office 365 is a subscription model in which users get continuous updates for as long as they pay either a monthly or annual subscription, but when they stop subscribing they get limited access to the software for a brief period, after which it stops working completely other than as a way to view documents.

Office 2019 For Single User Only

In contrast, Office 2019 is the more traditional model in which users pay a one-off fee (which isn't yet specified) and can use the software forever. Historically buyers of standalone Office have only received security updates. Office 2019 will work more like older versions of Windows in that it will get occasional batches of new features, but only for a limited time.

One other difference is that Office 2019 can only be installed on a single computer at a time. In contrast a basic Office 365 subscription allows use on one computer, one tablet and one phone simultaneously, while a more expensive subscription allows for five users, each running a computer, tablet and phone.

Office 2019 will include the core applications of Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Word, along with the business edition of Skype and the Exchange and SharePoint tools.

Excel Gets Biggest Boost

At the moment Microsoft hasn't announced any killer features that make an upgrade from earlier standalone editions of MS Office a must. There will be some new animation tools in PowerPoint, as well as additional support across the applications for styluses and digital pens.

The most interesting additions are for Excel, though they may appeal more to dedicated users. One tool will let users mark fields as being of a particular type of data (such as company name or city) and automatically pull in relevant information (such as current stock price or population). There will also be an "Insight" tool that automatically examines a set of data and produces charts to show interesting patterns or trends. (Source: techcrunch.com)

What's Your Opinion?

Do you use the standalone edition of Office or subscribe to Office 365? Would the proposed features be enough for you to upgrade? Do you expect Microsoft to ever switch to subscriptions being the only option?