Microsoft has announced plans to release a consumer version of Office 2021, a standalone version of Microsoft 365 with some, but not all, features of Microsoft’s cloud productivity service that are always updated. This is perhaps the first standalone version of Office offered by default with Microsoft Teams.
Microsoft will announce “Office 2021 for personal and small business users” later this year, “Microsoft said in a blog post late Thursday. Microsoft said it has no plans to change prices for this new version, which means that the cheapest version of Office 2021 is $ 150, the price Microsoft charges for Microsoft Office Home and Student 2019. (The version does not include Microsoft Outlook, only Word, Excel and PowerPoint.) There will be versions for both Mac and Windows, Microsoft said.
Since Microsoft released its standalone or, as they call it, “one-time purchases” or “perpetual” versions of its Office software, they have provided a limited amount of features and support. It’s designed for customers who feel that the continuous updates of a Microsoft 365 subscription do not add value to their purchase, or who cannot or do not want to pay for a continuous subscription. Office 2021 will be supported for five years, Microsoft said.
Microsoft’s blog post did not want to say which features will be included or excluded from Office 2021’s consumer version. However, Microsoft’s commercial version, known as the Microsoft Office Long Term Servicing Channel (LTSC), may offer some clues. The version includes accessibility enhancements, features like Dynamic Arrays and XLOOKUP in Excel, support in dark mode in various programs and performance enhancements in Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint, Microsoft said. The following version of Office is not offered with the Skype for Business client app, which is available as a download in the Microsoft Download Center. It’s run with the Microsoft Teams app, “which enables customers to enable and test this experience whenever they prefer,” Microsoft added.
Unlike the Office consumer version, whose price remains unchanged, Microsoft has said it will increase the price of its LTSC versions – Office Professional Plus, Office Standard and the individual Office apps – by up to 10 percent in general availability in the second half of 2021.
Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Office 365, Jared Spataro, has formally confirmed that there will be a new version of Office LTSC in the future, but he has not made the same explicit promise for the consumer version.