Microsoft Office is a prolific suite of applications, resident on a vast number of PCs. At the recent Ignite Conference, Microsoft announced that they would reveal at least one more Office suite, expected to be rolled out in the second half of 2021. This version of Office will be a perpetual licensed offering.

Windows Perpetual Office Suite can be purchased by an organization with a one-time payment, as opposed to a recurring monthly usage fee. The perpetual licenses are typically sold as a part of large multi-license deal. A perpetual license payment guarantees the right to operate the application suite as long as is desired, even if Microsoft has stopped serving the product with security updates. For more information on the risks of continuing software use when the product is orphaned by the developer, read: Office 2013 Support to End in October

The license can be installed on a single desktop or laptop, and the license is tied to the device, not the user.

Microsoft Office Perpetual

The fact that Office Perpetual would continue to be sold in this license form was an expected revelation, as per marketing executive Jared Spataro  when introducing Office 2019.  While the new version is expected to be like the Office 2019 version, little was revealed hen the product was announced. With the exception of indicating a vague future release date, Microsoft said only “We will share additional details around the official names, pricing and availability of all these products later.”

However, experts and industry watchers are making some inferences based upon past Microsoft behavior with releases. These include:

  • Perpetual Office is on a three-year release schedule, and the 2021 launch maintains the tradition. Because of this three year rhythm, it is expected the new suite will be called Office 2022.
  • Microsoft only offered 7 years of support for Office 2019, breaking the news to customers even before they received it. Up until that version, their Office Suites enjoyed 10 years of support before being dropped, but Office 2019 was sold with the decreased support. Experts speculate that the upcoming version is likely to offer the shortened support window as will all offerings go-forward. 10 year support is though to be a thing of the past.
  • The release of Office 2022 (if that is what it is called) will come about a year prior to the end of support for Office 2016 and Office 2019 in October of 2023. Customers of the perpetual license will have an approximate 24 month window to upgrade, which is not a lot of time for smaller or less agile enterprises. <li<
  • Office 365 will continue to be the favored Microsoft product over any kind of perpetual license suite, including Office 2022. Industry insiders believe Microsoft will eventually completely abandon the perpetual license format for good.

SMBs may find themselves asking many questions about the right license format for their organization, based on budget, agility and future growth. For more information on business and technology assessments, or consulting to help you strategize for your best next moves -call Alliance IT. We help Sarasota area business streamline their IT practices and manage their budget for optimum productivity. Interested? Let’s talk.