The company has confirmed the big launch date

Sep 16, 2021 18:40 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft has just announced that Office 2021 will launch on October 5, the same day when Windows 11 is projected to begin rolling out to the first wave of devices.

This version is the consumer perpetual offering which doesn’t require a subscription, and Microsoft says it will share all details, including versions and pricing, at the same time.

Microsoft also announced Office LTSC, or the Long Term Servicing Channel, now available for Windows and macOS, and this should technically be good news for those who want to run the productivity suite while sticking with the same version for a longer period of time.

If you’re wondering who needs to do that, just think of computers where periodic updates aren’t necessarily that easy for a wide variety of reasons.

“Office LTSC is designed for specific scenarios: regulated devices that cannot accept feature updates, process control devices on the manufacturing floor, and specialty systems that cannot connect to the internet,” Microsoft explained.

A subscription is still the best way to go

“To meet this need, Office LTSC will provide a locked-in-time version of familiar productivity tools. While it offers performance improvements and expanded accessibility, it will not offer the cloud-based capabilities of Microsoft 365 Apps like real-time collaboration and AI-driven automation in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, as well as security and compliance capabilities that give added confidence in a hybrid world.”

Needless to say, Microsoft still says that Microsoft 365 (the version available with a subscription) is the right way to go for everybody, especially because it offers more frequent update without waiting for a new release for a longer period of time.

Furthermore, new features and security updates are being rolled out when they’re ready, so Microsoft therefore doesn’t need to pack everything into a new release going live like a perpetual offering.