Microsoft launches Office 2019 for Windows, macOS

Microsoft today launched Office 2019 for Windows and MacOS, giving its largest customers – volume licensees – the first solution as a result of applications.

Also Monday, the company Redmond, Wash. S & # 39; s committed to replacing Office 2019, ending new speculation that this version would be the latest outside of a subscription.

Jared Spataro, Microsoft's marketing manager for Windows and Office, said in a post on a company's blog that Office 2019 will be deployed in other countries, including commercial customers and individuals.

Microsoft classifies software by payment method, distinguishing between a license purchased directly and a "rented" license, because the payment is made over time, as in a subscription.

Office 2019 is the perpetual license form of the suite, called this because it is purchased with a single upfront fee which, in turn, gives the buyer the right to use the software in perpetuity. The license does not have an expiration date and users can run the software as long as they wish.

The flip side, Office 365 ProPlus, is the same set of applications (which differ depending on whether they run on Windows or macOS) as part of an Office 365 subscription. Customers can run ProPlus only as long as they continue to make monthly or annual payments for the subscription.

Spataro is assured that he was explaining the differences between the two. "Office 2019 is the next local version of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Project, Visio, Access and Publisher," said Spataro, who later branded ProPlus as "the cloud-connected version."

But he also criticized Office 2019 by saying that his rival, ProPlus, was the best option. "Office 365 ProPlus … offers the most productive and secure Office experience – with the lowest total cost of ownership for deployment and management," Spataro said.

The denigration of Microsoft vis-à-vis the perpetual office was more and more explicit, which Spataro continued. "Office 2019 provides a set of valuable enhancements for customers who can not be connected to the cloud or receive regular updates," he says.

Office 2019, as also noted Spataro, contains features already available to Office 365 ProPlus users. The perpetually licensed version was created by selecting some of the cumulative enhancements and new features added to Office 365 since the launch of Office 2016 three years ago.

Spataro also compared Office 2019 to the long-term maintenance channel (LTSC) version of Windows 10, the version of the operating system that has remained static for a decade, not to mention that some customers have purchased perpetual licenses for this reason. "We will continue to add new features to Office 365 ProPlus every month, including innovations in collaboration, artificial intelligence, security, and more," Spataro said.

Nevertheless, Microsoft will continue to offer on-site editions of its suite of applications, promised Spataro. "We are happy to confirm that we are committing to another on-site release in the future," he said, without specifying a release schedule. (Microsoft has had a three-year cycle, which makes it very likely the launch of Office 2022 in the fall of 2021).

The office price increases were announced in July and were to come into effect with the start of the 2019 Office. Prices for the suite will be 10% higher than those of its predecessor, Office 2016, while licenses for Customer access to access information on Microsoft servers will increase from 10% to 30%.