Here is a good news for office users. There is a subscription-free version of Office suite that will launch later this year. A commercial preview of Office LTSC 2024 will be available from next month, with a full launch scheduled for later in the year.
The Office Long-Term Servicing Channel is supported for five years, and it holds great appeal for the many businesses that are not keen on the idea of software subscriptions. There will also be a consumer-focused version of the suite, Office 2024, available via a traditional “one-time purchase” model.
Microsoft does not exactly promote Office LTSC 2024 when it says that it “will include only a subset of the value found in Microsoft 365 Apps”. The company would, of course, prefer to tie users into a subscription model, but is willing to admit that this is not always appropriate.
The impending launch of the software is being announced by Microsoft. They acknowledge that some customers have niche yet important scenarios requiring a truly long-term servicing channel. These scenarios include regulated devices unable to accept feature updates for extended periods, process control devices on the manufacturing floor that lack internet connectivity, and specialty systems like medical testing equipment running embedded apps that must remain unchanged. For these special cases, Microsoft confirms the continued offering and support of the Office Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC). They are pleased to announce that the commercial preview of the next Office LTSC release, Office LTSC 2024, will commence next month, with general availability following later this year.
Office LTSC 2024 will ship without the soon-to-be-retired Microsoft Publisher, and also lacks Microsoft Teams — although this can be downloaded separately.
The next version of Office will be available for macOS, Windows 10 and Windows 11, and there will be 32- and 64-bit versions. A new version of on-premises Office for consumers, Office 2024, is planned for release later this year by Microsoft. Office 2024 will also be supported for five years using the traditional “one-time purchase” model. Microsoft confirms there will be no price increase for these products at the time of release. More details regarding the new features included in Office 2024 are to be announced closer to general availability. Ultimately this is a very good news for the future as Microsoft is not giving up on subscription-free editions of Office. The company has pledged its “commitment to another release in the future”.
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