Microsoft Office 365 coming To Windows And Mac In 2021! The two new versions are on deck for 2021and will consist of a consumer Office 2021 version and Office LTSC (Long-Term Service Channel) for Enterprise customers.
Both of these will be available to both Windows and macOS users. That matters because although there is a vast surge of companies moving to Cloud-Based solutions, cloud-base Office 365 isn’t for everyone. The company detected strong demand for a non-cloud-based Office solution and responded to it.
In the words of Jared Spataro, the head of Microsoft Office 365:
“It’s just a matter of trying to meet customers where they are. We certainly have a lot of customers that are moving to the cloud over the last 10 months, that’s happened en masse really. At the same time, we definitely have customers who have specific scenarios where they don’t feel like they can move to the cloud.”
Microsoft 365 didn’t disclose much in the way of particulars where Office LTSC is concerned. However, we can expect that the overall user experience will be highly similar and that there won’t be any major UI changes. Microsoft is a lot better over the years in maintaining a consistent user experience across different versions of the products they offer. It’s highly doubtful they’d do any less here.
While Microsoft typically offers a seven-year support window for their products, Office LTSC will only support it for five years. A preview version of Office LTSC is available in April 2021. The formal release is a few months after that.
This is excellent news and a welcome change for anyone who owns a business of any size and, for whatever reason, is not ready or willing to migrate to the cloud. Kudos to Microsoft Office 365 for the addition.
