- Microsoft launched Office LTSC for Windows and Office 2021 for Mac.
- Office LTSC targets commercial users that need to install and use Office offline.
- Office LTSC comes with a few improvements compared to Office 2019, but with the same deployment technology.
- Both Office LTSC for Windows and Office 2021 for Mac are available in preview releases for now.
Microsoft launched yesterday commercial previews for both Microsoft Office Long Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) for Windows (32 and 64-bit) and Office 2021 for Mac.
The products address only commercial users that have regulated operating systems that don’t connect to the Internet on a regular basis and can’t receive product updates as other devices would.
The next perpetual version of Office for commercial customers is built specifically for organizations running regulated devices that cannot accept feature updates for years at a time, process control devices that are not connected to the internet in manufacturing facilities, and specialty systems that must stay locked in time and require a long-term servicing channel.
Office 2021 LTSC includes the same productivity tools as Office 2019, plus a few new ones, along with faster performance and expanded accessibility, the Microsoft announcement says.
What’s new in Office LTSC?
The users of the Microsoft suite might already be familiar with a few new features as these already available in Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise:
- Dynamic Arrays and XLOOKUP support in Excel
- Dark mode support across multiple apps
- Performance improvements across Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint
- Built-in Microsoft Teams app
Skype for Business won’t be included in Office LTSC, but users will find in the the Microsoft Download Center.
In line with the company’s policy, Office LTSC and Office 2021 for Mac will get a device-based five-year support lifecycle. IT admins will be able to deploy the products easily thanks to the Click-to-Run technology.
The full documentation for each product version is available on Microsoft’s website (for Windows and macOS).
A detail that’s not mentioned in the recent release announcement, but that Microsoft mentioned back in February, is that once Office LTCS acquires general availability, the price for Office Professional Plus, Office Standard, and Office individual apps will increase by 10%. For consumers and small businesses, the price of Office 2021 is the same.
Also in February, Microsoft commited to launching a second version of Office LTCS.
Microsoft is expected to come out with more details about on-premises versions for Visio, Project, Exchange Server, Skype for Business Server, Project Server, and SharePoint Server in the coming months.
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