Microsoft Office 2019 will only work on Windows 10

Microsoft provides an update in Office 2019 today, revealing that applications will only run on Windows 10. In a support article for Windows and Office Support and Service, Microsoft revealed that it needs to upgrade to Windows 10 if you want the latest version of Windows 10. Office without subscribing to the Office 365 service of the company.

This is a move that is clearly designed to run businesses that suspend Office 365 in subscriptions, since Office 2019 standalone software will only be compatible with Windows 10 and not with Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. This will not affect Office for Mac, which is a separate product with a different release schedule. Microsoft is also changing the support lifecycle for Office 2019 so that it will have 5 years of primary support and "about 2 years of extended support."

Office 2019 (which will arrive in the second half of 2018) will include the usual client applications of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, as well as server versions of Exchange, SharePoint, and Skype for Business. Microsoft plans to release preview copies of Office 2019 by mid-2018, and the software is primarily designed for businesses that do not use Office 365 versions in the cloud.

Microsoft also extends its support for Windows 10 for business and educational customers who are running certain versions of the operating system. Windows 10 version 1511, 1607, 1703, and 1709 will be supported for an additional six months to help business and educational users upgrade to the latest compatible versions of Windows 10.