Office 2019: Microsoft has confirmed that the next version of the Office productivity suite will be released later this year and, as expected, will run only on Windows 10.
Office 2019 was first announced at Ignite last year, and now Microsoft says the next version of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Skype for Business will be available in the second half of the year. A preview program that gives testers early access to these apps will begin in the second quarter of 2018, so there's still a while to go.
Note that Office 2019 will run only on Windows 10, so users of Windows 7 and 8.1 who do not upgrade will not be able to install the new version of the productivity suite.
Microsoft emphasized that Office 2019 will run on any supported version of Windows 10 SAC, Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2018, and the next LTSC version of Windows Server.
Microsoft also makes changes to the way Office can be installed, as the software will be released with Click-to-Run files instead of MSI files – these will be exclusive to Office Server products.
The Office 2019 will also introduce a new standard and an extended support program and, unlike its predecessors, updates will not be shipped overall for 10 years. Core support will be available for 5 years, while extended support will be provided for only 2 years. Microsoft states that support for previous Office applications is not affected and that the extended support for Office 2016 will expire in 2025.
More information regarding the release date and the changes coming to Office 2019 will be provided later, so stay tuned!
