In a world increasingly dominated by subscription-based models, Microsoft has announced the forthcoming release of Office 2024, the latest standalone version of its popular office software.
The move is very much welcomed by those who prefer perpetual licenses over monthly subscriptions, with Microsoft 365 continuing to be pushed as a flexible bundle of office software and other products, like cloud storage.
Microsoft has revealed that Office 2024 will be available for preview next month and will be released in full later in the year.
Microsoft Office 2024 is coming later this year
Microsoft is targeting its updated suite at businesses with regulated devices that may not be able to connect to the internet or receive updates – in other words, those that are incompatible with Microsoft 365.
The announcement reads: “For these special cases, Microsoft continues to offer and support the Office Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC).”
Microsoft Office 2024 LTSC will offer Professional Plus, Standard, and Embedded versions, but prices are set to increase by 10% compared with the 2019 version.
The device-based perpetual licenses will be supported for five years. Support will align with Windows 11 LTSC, which is also slated for a release later this year.
The core offering of productivity apps remains, however Redmond confirmed that Office 2024 will not ship with Publisher, which is set to retire in 2026.
Be it technical limitations or an incentive designed to push customers toward the subscription-based Microsoft 365 apps, the standalone versions of the apps will not support certain online features like real-time collaboration and the newly integrated Copilot AI assistant.
Despite the update clearly having certain enterprise customers in mind, Microsoft also used the announcement to reveal plans for an upcoming Office 2024 package for consumers, though details are limited, and more information is expected closer to its release.
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