Friday, February 9th 2018
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Microsoft Office 2019 Will Run on Windows 10, and Only Windows 10
As reported yesterday, Microsoft changed the way how they license Windows 10 to their OEM partners. But buckle in folks, the changes just keep on coming. In what looks like an effort to push Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 owners to upgrade, Microsoft has officially announced that Office 2019 will only work on machines with Windows 10 and the next LTSC release of Windows Server. That's only the tip of the iceberg though. Unlike previous version of Office that came with 10 years of support, Office 2019's support lifecycle is shortened to five years of mainstream support and two years of extended support. Additionally, the client applications are only available with a Click-to-Run installer. However, Microsoft will continue to provide a MSI installer for the server applications.
Source:
Microsoft
85 Comments on Microsoft Office 2019 Will Run on Windows 10, and Only Windows 10
Windows 8.1 went out of mainstream support on Jan 9, 2018.
And I doubt anyone on Windows 8.1 would mind too much upgrading to Windows 10. I definitely would not :D
They are supporting only Windowses currently in mainstream support. For Windows 10, they seem to have moved the support model to the bi-annual updates being supported for 2 years and more recently 1.5 years.
Has it been said if Office 2019 will actually work on Windows 7/8.1? Supported and actually working can be different things. Kind of like the "on supported hardware" comment above.
I mean, let's look at the whole picture here. We're talking about running something to be released in the second half of 2018. If you don't like Win10, you're running Win8.1, an OS released 5 years ago that never cracked 10% market share or, more likely Windows 7, an OS released 9 years ago. If you were Microsoft, would you be willing to support any of those for the next 5+ years?
And please do keep in mind that for the last 5 years or so, Office 365 is also a thing.
support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/14085/microsoft-business-developer-and-desktop-operating-systems-policy
Mainstream Support is where everything is normally supported. Extended Support is only security patches.
For companies that are willing to spend a lot of $$$ and I mean A LOT of $$$, they can wrangle more out of Microsoft but not mere mortals like you or me.
But when it comes to Office, they just do not want to pay attention to a dead product. Resolving issues with supporting an OS that is out of Mainstream support does not make financial and business sense. I am not saying I necessarily like what they are doing, just stating a fact.
Was WannaCry really that long ago and it's teachings forgotten? If your shit cannot be patched it is vulnerable. Antiviruss, firewalls and hardening won't save your stuff (might mitigate, but not always) in case of kernel vulnerability, if that vulnerability is never patched.
So why Microsoft has to release Office for it, when they will stop the support within year?
edit just confirmed I bought Office Pro 2016 for 9.99 thru MS HUP.
On topic, Windows 7 support ends in January 2020. Windows 8.1 support ends in January 2023 (but it's also used by 10 or 12 people around the globe). Does it make sense to launch a new Office version to target OSes going out of support so soon? Apple, Google, Microsoft, and others all do this with big product launches. They look to synchronize support schedules so they don't end up spending (and charging you) 10 times more to support old platforms with missing features. You expect the software (especially from Microsoft) to always be bleeding edge and secure, but somehow run on outdated, out of support, and insecure platforms. And be dirt cheap. Or free. And you're surprised that a business is looking for profit. Are you giving away your work for free every day?
Do you complain manufacturers don't support you with putting 2018 tech in a 2009 car. Or put in a 4K panel into your 10 year old TV. Or run today's apps on an iPhone 4. Or run 32bit apps in iOS 11, and in MacOS starting June 2018. Or run Chrome browser on a Windows Vista. Or run this year's Android on last year's phone. Or put an NVMe SSD into your 7 year old laptop.
Looks to me like you're willing to accept and justify these limitations for everybody but MS. Which means it's not an actual problem, it's just your personal grudge with one company.