Microsoft released Office 2019 Preview today, with the full release expected later this year. This early version is only for Windows, though a macOS edition will be out “in the coming months,” according to the company.
This version of the giant productivity suite is for those who don’t want to pay a monthly fee for Office 365.
Office 2019 offers improvements to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. “Updates include new and improved inking features across the apps, like the roaming pencil case, pressure sensitivity, and tilt effects; more powerful data analysis in Excel, like new formulas, new charts, and Power BI integration; and sophisticated presentation features in PowerPoint, like Morph and Zoom,” wrote Jared Spataro, General Manager for Office, in an official blog post.
Photo: Microsoft
Office 2019 vs. Office 365
The Microsoft executive pointed out that these features are already available to subscribers to Office 365 ProPlus. This is a sign that his company prefers monthly subscribers to those who want to pay a one-time fee for their software.
Still, Microsoft isn’t ignoring customers who aren’t interested in the cloud-based version. As Spataro promised, “Office 2019 will be a valuable upgrade for customers who feel that they need to keep some or all of their apps and servers on-premises.”
A Mac version of Office 2019 is part of Microsoft’s ecumenical attitude of developing software for all, whether they run Windows or not.
