In a move that will surprise some, Microsoft has announced that the upcoming Microsoft Office 2019 release will only be able to run on Windows 10 PCs. According to the announcement, the following platforms will be able to run the perpetual version of Office
- Any supported Windows 10 SAC release
- Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2018
- The next LTSC release of Windows Server
Further, Microsoft will not support MSI installs for Office 2019 but will be installed only by click-to-run technology. MSI’s will be offered for the server products.
Truthfully, Windows and Office owners shouldn’t be surprised by this announcement. Windows 10 was released July 29, 2015 and has had at least two major updates every year since its release. Microsoft is pushing for all customers, both consumer and enterprise, to upgrade to the latest version of Windows for improved security and overall performance. This move will somewhat force the issue.
It should be noted that this only impacts the perpetual version of Microsoft Office 2019. This is the physical media, non-subscription version. Office 365, at least for now, is not impacted by this change.
Office 2019 is expected to be released in the second half of this year.
As part of today’s announcement, Microsoft also indicated that support for older version of Windows 10 will be extended for education and enterprises to help them manage rollouts and upgrades to the platform.
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