Office 2019 to support Windows 10 ONLY (but also MacOS)

[vanished]

Source: http://news.thewindowsclub.com/office-2019-for-windows-10-91641/

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3253326/windows/microsoft-office-2019-will-only-run-on-windows-10-and-will-begin-previews-next-quarter.html

https://www.techworm.net/2018/02/microsoft-office-2019-will-run-windows-10-says-microsoft.html

 

 

Quote

The Redmond giant is keen to move everyone to Windows 10. The potential to streamline their business model will not be lost on them. They are now beginning to stop users of older software from accessing more modern innovations and will continue to try and get users over to its most recent version of the world’s favorite operating system. The potential cost savings are huge and it is clearly the reason that Microsoft wants to get everyone on to the same software package. It is not yet clear how the industry will react to the news.

 

I have one idea how they may react.  Very poorly, and with first disbelief, and then shock.  This is a big move for Microsoft, who has previously not only supported older versions of Windows, but even Mac OS.  While they did not specifically say that MacOS will no longer be supported, it seems strongly implied by the fact they said "Microsoft has announced that their newest edition of their ever-popular office software package Office 2019 will only be available to users of Windows 10."

Update: " The move by the software giant would not affect those using Office for Mac, which is a separate product with a different release schedule. "

 

I'm sure this will not only upset many home users but disrupt many businesses, if not now, then at least eventually.

Edited February 7, 2018 by Ryan_Vickers
update

[Lurick]

I saw another article about that as well. Definitely an interesting move to say the least.

Although the other article, which I'll try to find, mentioned that this is ONLY going to apply to standalone Office 2019 and that Office 365 (the subscription model) will get the same updates but work on older versions.

They are really pushing hard to get people, businesses especially, to move to Windows 10 which I can see to an extent but still, I don't think this will go over well.

 

Edit:

It looks like the article in the OP mentions that Office 365 won't get updated on older versions of Windows (If I'm reading it right)

[ProjectBox153]

Wow, that's a pretty big move. Office 2016 worked just fine on Windows 7 which was released in 2009. I think Office 2019 should support at least 8.1 and higher. I haven't used Office for Mac since the 2011 version, so I don't know about that side of things.

[vanished]

Just now, Lurick said:

I saw another article about that as well. Definitely an interesting move to say the least.

Although the other article, which I'll try to find, mentioned that this is ONLY going to apply to standalone Office 2019 and that Office 365 (the subscription model) will get the same updates but work on older versions.

They are really pushing hard to get people, businesses especially, to move to Windows 10 which I can see to an extent but still, I don't think this will go over well.

That is interesting to hear.  To be honest, it doesn't make sense since Office 365 is just a subscription that gets you whatever the latest form of Office is (among other things), which soon would be 2019.  That and their reasoning behind this change (simplifying what they have to support) would be rendered useless if they chose to still support the normal array with Office 365 installs.

 

I guess we will have to wait and see

[Lurick]

Just now, Ryan_Vickers said:

That is interesting to hear.  To be honest, it doesn't make sense since Office 365 is just a subscription that gets you whatever the latest form of Office is (among other things), which soon would be 2019.  That and their reasoning behind this change (simplifying what they have to support) would be rendered useless if they chose to still support the normal array with Office 365 installs.

 

I guess we will have to wait and see

Yah, I just made an edit as you posted but the article you have seems to indicate Office 365 will also go the same way, Windows 10 only.

[IamODIN]

i dont mind

[SilkyDistress]

Their forcing on Windows 10 is just gonna make people and enterprises switch to Linux. Why is the even idea Windows 10 on all PC's I am not going from Windows 8.1 (even our company is using Windows 7 Ultimate on Kaby Lake CPU's). That idea is not gonna go well, It will distrupt a lot of companies and enterprises and I personally think this is great time to switch to Linux to show Microsoft that they are doing many things wrong.

[Princess Luna]

I see absolutely no reason to move away from office 16 yet

[ProjectBox153]

Just now, Princess Cadence said:

I see absolutely no reason to move away from office 16 yet

I still use Office 2010 and 2013 (and 2011 for Mac).

[Lurick]

23 minutes ago, SilkyDistress said:

Their forcing on Windows 10 is just gonna make people and enterprises switch to Linux. Why is the even idea Windows 10 on all PC's I am not going from Windows 8.1 (even our company is using Windows 7 Ultimate on Kaby Lake CPU's). That idea is not gonna go well, It will distrupt a lot of companies and enterprises and I personally think this is great time to switch to Linux to show Microsoft that they are doing many things wrong.

 

Part of it is training time, getting people and support used to a new OS which can be a large expense (training time + loss of productivity) and pain for everyone and rewriting any applications for a different OS can be difficult as well but if you've got to rewrite it for a new version of Windows it can be hard but maybe, depending on the program, a bit easier to deal with. I do agree though this will make organizations look a bit more at alternatives though

[mynameisjuan]

22 minutes ago, SilkyDistress said:

Their forcing on Windows 10 is just gonna make people and enterprises switch to Linux. Why is the even idea Windows 10 on all PC's I am not going from Windows 8.1 (even our company is using Windows 7 Ultimate on Kaby Lake CPU's). That idea is not gonna go well, It will distrupt a lot of companies and enterprises and I personally think this is great time to switch to Linux to show Microsoft that they are doing many things wrong.

Ok.....so you are saying companies dont want to switch to win 10 because some reason, yet are willing to switch to linux and train and learn new programs because their windows counterparts are not supported in linux. I mean that totally makes more sense than just switching to win 10 and run into no issues /s 

[GoodBytes]

Sounds like it will be a UWP app, probably replacing the current mobile one on Windows 10.

Like currently, you are going to have MacOS version as well. MS has been actively supporting the recent years, with nee features, and bring it to the same level as the Windows version.

[givingtnt]

its not like the current office version is not suitable for use. (as in, I don't see the point in upgrading if yo ucan keep what you have)

its not the end of the world.
its just not convinient.

[SilkyDistress]

9 minutes ago, mynameisjuan said:

Ok.....so you are saying companies dont want to switch to win 10 because some reason, yet are willing to switch to linux and train and learn new programs because their windows counterparts are not supported in linux. I mean that totally makes more sense than just switching to win 10 and run into no issues /s 

They should switch from Windows cause Linux : 

1. Its completely free open-source community that is growing every single day.

2. Reducing risk of hacking enterprise's computers and servers is lower

3. Wine to the rescue to emulate older versions of Office like 2010 & 2013

4. KDE desktop environment & LXDE are very similar to Windows GUI and they can make people get used to it way easier

5. Linux is completely modular so IT guys can install core components to run it on PC and customize it to enterprise's needs.

 

11 minutes ago, Lurick said:

 

Part of it is training time, getting people and support used to a new OS which can be a large expense (training time + loss of productivity) and pain for everyone and rewriting any applications for a different OS can be difficult as well but if you've got to rewrite it for a new version of Windows it can be hard but maybe, depending on the program, a bit easier to deal with. I do agree though this will make organizations look a bit more at alternatives though

It will be easier to install barebones Linux and then install KDE or LXDE GUI to make it easier for getting used to it.

Wine is another fantastic solution to emulate older versions of Microsoft Office (Like 2010, 2013) so there will be very low loss in productivity.

[GoodBytes]

1 minute ago, givingtnt said:

its not like the current office version is not suitable for use. (as in, I don't see the point in upgrading if yo ucan keep what you have)

its not the end of the world.
its just not convinient.

If you have Office 365, you'll continue to use and have a supported version (until the extended support period ends) of Office, you are just not going to have access to the new Office. So assuming you don't care about the new features of Office 2019, it won't affect you at all.

[divito]

I think rather than moving to Linux, they'd probably upgrade to 10 and VM anything they actually need. Will really depend on the use case.

A lot of people don't use the new features enough to warrant upgrading. I've seen plenty of offices still on 2010, or 2007.

[Lurick]

3 minutes ago, SilkyDistress said:

They should switch from Windows cause Linux : 

1. Is completely free open-source community thats growing every single day.

2. Reducing risk of hacking enterprise's computers and servers is lower

3. Wine to the rescue to emulate older versions of Office like 2010 & 2013

4. KDE desktop environment & LXDE are very similar to Windows GUI and they can make people get used to it way easier

5. Linux is completely modular so IT guys can install core components to run it on PC and customize it to enterprise's needs.

 

It will be easier to install barebones Linux and then install KDE or LXDE GUI to make it easier for getting used to it.

Wine is another fantastic solution to emulate older versions of Microsoft Office (Like 2010, 2013) so there will be very low loss in productivity.

You're looking at this from a logical and informed perspective.

When "Manager So and So" in accounting or some non-tech person suddenly can't find their programs in the exact same spot they'll be opening up tickets left and right with IT, assuming they can find their browser, complaining that they don't like it.

[mikat]

3 minutes ago, Lurick said:

You're looking at this from a logical and informed perspective.

When "Manager So and So" in accounting or some non-tech person suddenly can't find their programs in the exact same spot they'll be opening up tickets left and right with IT, assuming they can find their browser, complaining that they don't like it.

Windows is confusing enough, and installing linux on computers that belong to non techies = 3x your helpdesk staff

[SilkyDistress]

4 minutes ago, Lurick said:

You're looking at this from a logical and informed perspective.

When "Manager So and So" in accounting or some non-tech person suddenly can't find their programs in the exact same spot they'll be opening up tickets left and right with IT, assuming they can find their browser, complaining that they don't like it.

It can't be that hard to find it cause Office will be on desktop thats for sure and they can find their programs easily on LXDE for sure : 

[GoodBytes]

4 hours ago, SilkyDistress said:

They should switch from Windows cause Linux : 

1. Its completely free open-source community that is growing every single day.

2. Reducing risk of hacking enterprise's computers and servers is lower

3. Wine to the rescue to emulate older versions of Office like 2010 & 2013

4. KDE desktop environment & LXDE are very similar to Windows GUI and they can make people get used to it way easier

5. Linux is completely modular so IT guys can install core components to run it on PC and customize it to enterprise's needs.

 

It will be easier to install barebones Linux and then install KDE or LXDE GUI to make it easier for getting used to it.

Wine is another fantastic solution to emulate older versions of Microsoft Office (Like 2010, 2013) so there will be very low loss in productivity.

Disagree. the proper OS to install on a business environment is CentOS, and that is years behind Windows. You can't even shift+click on a running process to open another instance of it, as an example. Open source is not an advantage... it means official releases are really betas releases.. hence why you want CentOS instead.

 

Usually, hacking is not the problem of the OS, but rather weak passwords, lack of data encryption on sensitive data in databases, human configuration errors, etc.

 

KDE is junk of a mess of widgets, open to screwing up everything, and difficult to restore. Gnome is far closer to Windows than KDE. And with an OS with 0 recovery systems in place, not even bring back the system in time, it is a huge problem.

 

Modularity of Linux provide what advantage? Save 200MB on their 1TB drive? yay?!

 

Wine is not an option in the enterprise as the software has 0 support under it.

[mynameisjuan]

5 minutes ago, SilkyDistress said:

They should switch from Windows cause Linux : 

1. Its completely free open-source community that is growing every single day.

2. Reducing risk of hacking enterprise's computers and servers is lower

3. Wine to the rescue to emulate older versions of Office like 2010 & 2013

4. KDE desktop environment & LXDE are very similar to Windows GUI and they can make people get used to it way easier

5. Linux is completely modular so IT guys can install core components to run it on PC and customize it to enterprise's needs.

1. In the enterprise world linux is far, far from free. 

2. Lower yes, reality, no. A lot of linux servers are built and NEVER updated. Its very common.

3. Yes WINE can work but thats not a professional alternative for an enterprise. 

4. GUIs are easy, im talking about training with some CLI only programs and new programs they are forced to switch to.

[mikat]

2 minutes ago, SilkyDistress said:

It can't be that hard to find it cause Office will be on desktop thats for sure and they can find their programs easily on LXDE for sure : 

trust me, helping people with windows is hard enough, let alone compatibility issues with win & linux

[DanielMDA]

38 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

I see absolutely no reason to move away from office 16 yet

For me it is a free update not having a reason not to upgrade

[TimeOmnivore]

28 minutes ago, givingtnt said:

its not like the current office version is not suitable for use. (as in, I don't see the point in upgrading if yo ucan keep what you have)

its not the end of the world.
its just not convinient.

Can confirm, am still using Office 2007. Although it's starting to break (a bit) on recent Windows 10 updates, so I may have to upgrade at some point soon.

[bimmerman]

I don't think this will be a major issue unless Office 2019 file formats are no longer backwards compatible, or technically are compatible but formatting and features are broken in the documents. It sucks but since office 2010 and newer are just fine, it won't be a major shock to the system so long as the files are compatible.