Yep, it’s that time again, a new release of Office is upon us. Microsoft finally publicly announce the release of Office 2019. You can read their official post: Office 2019 is now available for Windows and Mac.
What you need to know
Most importantly, at this point in time Office 2019 is only available to “commercial volume license customers” presently and will be release to the public at large “in a few weeks.” So don’t try to run out to get it, because you can’t, it’s not available yet. Microsoft is simply trying to create hype right now.
The most important thing to immediately be aware of regarding Office 2019 is the little fact that Office 2019 only runs on Windows 10 or Windows Server 2019. So by omission, it will not run on Windows 7 and/or Windows 8, 8.1
You can read about all the system requirements at System requirements for Office
It has been now reported to me by fellow MVPs that Office 2019 defaults to a 64-bit installation, so if you aren’t careful you can easily break your existing applications that use 32-bit ActiveX controls, 32-bit API call if they don’t already include 64-bit conditional compiler directives, … You can find the instructions on how-to change the default so you can actually install the 32-bit version at Download and install or reinstall Office 365 or Office 2019 on a PC or Mac:
You can then select the version you want. Select Other options, and choose the language and the 64-bit or 32-bit version of Office, and then select Install.
and remember Microsoft themselves recommend 32-bit installation
Even if your computer is running a 64-bit version of Windows, we recommend that you install the 32-bit version of Office, because it is more compatible with the applications and add-ins that work with Office … – taken from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/office-home-student-2019/CFQ7TTC0K7C8?activetab=pivot:faqtab or https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/office-professional-2019/CFQ7TTC0K7C5?activetab=pivot:faqtab under the heading Should I install the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Office?
which then begs the question, if that is so, why the default to 64 bit?! Nothing like Microsoft’s consistent messaging?! Microsoft’s right and left hands need to talk me thinks.
Difference Between Office 365 vs Office 2019
Let’s quickly differentiate between the 2
- Office 365 is subscription based, you rent the software month by month (or yearly). When you stop paying, you can no longer use it.
- Office 2019 is a perpetual license version. Buy it and it’s yours, so theoretically it will work forever, for the life of your PC.
From what I’m told, Office 365 will continue to get continuous updates (yes, flawed in many cases, but over time, it will progress and new features will appear and get sorted out).
Office 2019 on the other hand will be limited to security updates and bug fixes only. So new feature that may be developed and appear in Office 365 will not become available to the Office 2019 owners! So when you purchase it, that is what you will basically have for the lifetime of your software. It appears that the days of getting a Service Pack with feature updates/improvements are gone.
For instance, the new Linked Table Manager (LTM) which is rolling out in Office365 presently will not be part of Office 2019.
How this will all work if a database is developed using a new feature and then run on a perpetual licensed version without that feature is anyone’s guess right now?!
New Features
Yes, there are new features in Office 2019. Are they worth the upgrade, well I’ll leave that decision up to you!
Here are a few links regarding new Office 2019 features:
What Does All of This Mean?
From my perspective, Microsoft can beat around the bush all they want, but their actions are very clear and deliberate IMHO! They don’t want to support perpetual licensed software anymore. They want everyone to migrate to Windows 10 and Office 365 and eliminate their headache of supporting anything else and let’s be serious that where the money is at. To achieve this goal, they are doing everything short of pulling the plug on perpetual licensed versions. They are in fact creating a two-tiered user base, where some are deemed better than others, and will receive updates, and the others, well… tough.