Microsoft Confirms Office 2019 Suite Will Only Work on Windows 10

The current Windows version serves its users with software products in the form of apps that get regular updates.

Time to upgrade Windows 7 users. 

(Photo: AP screen grab)

Microsoft has announced that its Office 2019 suite – to be available in the second half of 2018 – will work only on Windows 10 operating system. The software giant made this announcement via a blog post on Thursday.

The exclusivity of Office 2019 to Windows 10 clearly falls in line with the company’s objective to discontinue security support for previous Windows versions like Windows XP and 7, among others. The excluded version also includes Windows 8 and 8.1, which basically catapulted the evolution of Windows into an app-centric operating system.

Microsoft was also quick to point out that this release has no effect on Office for Mac, which is a separate product with a different release schedule.

Last year at Ignite, Microsoft announced Office 2019 – the next perpetual version of Office that includes apps (including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, and Skype for Business) and servers (including Exchange, SharePoint, and Skype for Business).

Office 2019 will ship in H2 of 2018. Previews of the new apps and servers will start shipping in the second quarter of 2018. Office 2019 apps will be supported on any supported Windows 10 Semi-Annual Channel (SAC) release.

<a href="https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/windowsitpro/2018/02/01/changes-to-office-and-windows-servicing-and-support/">Microsoft Blog Post </a>

In addition to sharing the news about Office 2019, Microsoft also highlighted its decision to extend support for Windows 10 (versions 1511, 1607, 1703, and 1709) for enterprise and education customers running certain versions of the operating system was extended for another six months to help them move to the latest supported versions of the operating system.

Office 2019 will provide five years of mainstream support and approximately two years of extended support. This is an exception to our ‘Fixed Lifecycle Policy’ to align with the support period for Office 2016. Extended support will end 10/14/2025

<a href="https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/windowsitpro/2018/02/01/changes-to-office-and-windows-servicing-and-support/">Microsoft Blog Post</a>

The company also announced changes to the Office 365 ProPlus system requirement for users.