Microsoft said that today that its Office 2021 product will arrive later this year for both Mac and Windows systems. The company will release an updated cloud version and a Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) version —which is essentially a non-cloud version that will run offline on your desktop, and won’t require a browser.
LTSC or the perpetual version is important for businesses that don’t always have reliable internet connectivity, and prefer to have all their applications and features available locally on their systems.
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The company hasn’t revealed too many details about what features it plans to include in the upcoming release. But it said that dark mode across various apps, capabilities like dynamic arrays and XLOOKUP in Excel, and accessibility improvements will be part of the overhaul.
Last week, Microsoft Word’s upcoming dark mode test came to the fore, and it looks neat. You can expect similar visual changes in other products.
Microsoft will provide support for Office 2021 for five years instead of the seven years it promised for earlier releases.
The company said that it doesn’t plan to change the pricing of these products for now. For reference, Microsoft Office 2019 was sold at $249.99 as a one-time purchase for a single license.
The firm is planning to release a preview of the LTSC version in April, with a full release slotted for later. Along with Office 2021, Microsoft will also release a perpetual version of Windows 10 this year.
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