If you ponder over the history of Microsoft Office, you can see that the Redmond firm usually updates its Office suite every three years. The last release of Microsoft Office was Office 2019 in September 2018. With Microsoft's push towards digital and subscription services though, some may have been thinking that Office 365, now folded into Microsoft 365, would be the only choice going forward. However, on Tuesday Microsoft quietly confirmed (in an Exchange Server news piece) that Microsoft Office will be updated.
Word icon nostalgia
"Microsoft Office will also see a new perpetual release for both Windows and Mac, in the second half of 2021," stated the Exchange blog news post. This means that in about a year's time you should be able to outright purchase a new version of Office. It seems pretty safe to assume it will be dubbed 'Office 2022'. As well as the benefits of being able to use this perpetual productivity software without any further payments, some prefer how it isn't reliant on online connectivity in any way to install and be productive.
Poking around the Microsoft UK Office site right now, Microsoft is clearly steering consumers, business and enterprise customers to Microsoft 365 subscriptions.
We don't know the components and features of Office 2022, currently buyers get the core tools of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Skype, and more - as well as products such as Exchange, SharePoint, and Skype for Business in editions for commercial use, for businesses, and enterprises. So one can expect the same range of productivity apps but updated with features that have been pioneered in the online/subscription versions of Office.
Details of Microsoft's Office 2022 features, pricing and availability will be released between now and H2 next year.
