Microsoft has moved from a one-time purchase model to subscription models on almost all of their services. The same is finally happening with the Microsoft Office suite of products. Office 2019 may be the last Offline Suite available to download. Yes, you read that right. It means that once Microsoft ends it, you will have to opt-in for Office 365, which is a subscription-based model.
Office 2019 may be the last offline Suite
Microsoft is updating the Home Use Program to offer discounts on the latest and most up to date products such as Office 365, which is always up to date with premium versions of Office apps across all your devices. Office Professional Plus 2019 and Office Home and Business 2019 are no longer available as Home Use Program offers.
The move became apparent as Microsoft offering discounts to users of Home Use Programs. The Home Use Program allowed employees at eligible companies to buy an annual subscription of Office 365 Home or Office 365 Personal at a discount for use on personal devices. They could choose between Office Professional Plus 2019 and Office Home and Business 2019, but not anymore.
Users are getting discount offers. They can use it to upgrade to the latest and most update products such as Office 365. It is always up to date with premium versions of Office apps across all your devices. Office Professional Plus 2019 and Office Home and Business 2019 are no longer available as the Home Use Program offers. It eventually means, Office 2019 will be the last offline suite that will be available to download.
It is rather apparent that Office 365 will cost you more than the stand-alone version as you are billed annually. Microsoft has added discounts and offers like access from the mobile apps and 1TB of OneDrive storage. It’s going to be painful for many as offline version can work for years without updating.
To be clear, Office 365 allows you to install Office products just like Office 2019. However, they are frequently updated with new features and work on mobile phones. You will be charged annually.
Microsoft says, Office 365 is better than Office 2019
https://youtu.be/Zz-lxoHKfMg
Microsoft says that Office 365 offers much more than the standalone version of Office. While there is no denying that many would stick with products like Office 2019, there are multiple reasons why Office 365 is better.
- Office 365 keeps updating its product with new features, and it happens several times every year.
- It is connected to the cloud so that you can access your content from any device, coauthor with anyone in real-time
- It uses the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to create more impactful content with less effort—like Ideas in Excel and PowerPoint, Excel Data Types, Ink to Text, and more
- You can use it on multiple devices, including smartphones.
- Real-time co-authoring across apps
- Cloud offers are part of Office 365.
What do you think of Microsoft move from standalone products to subscription-based service?
