Should I choose Microsoft Office 2016, Office 2019 or Office 365?

Microsoft Office may be the most popular tool for businesses and individuals, but of course not all versions are suitable for all businesses, every user. This comparison and analysis helps you choose the best version of Office for you: Office 2016 (and successor - Office 2019) or Office 365?

Microsoft Office can be a tool to help increase real productivity for millions of workers worldwide. Office has many different options: Office on iPhone, on iPad, Office on Android smartphones, Office on PC, Windows and macOS, Office with some applications.

1. Compare Microsoft Office 2016, Office 365 and Office Online

But overall, there are only 2 types of Office. One is Office 2016, an independent software suite that dates back to the last century (its successor is Office 2019) and two is Office 365, a subscription service (subscription service) was launched in 2011.

1. Instructions for installing and using Office 2016

How to distinguish them differently can be confusing, especially they more or less include similar applications. Here are three best ways to differentiate these tools and consider what's coming up, based on Microsoft's recently announced support policies for Office 2019, as well as Office 365 now. in.

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Payment methods for Office suites

One of the differences between Office 2016 and Office 365 is the most prominent features depending on the packages you buy.

Office 2016 is called "buy once" by Microsoft, or "permanent" purchase.

Microsoft defines "permanent purchase" as "you pay a single and prepaid cost to receive Office applications for a computer". Users must pay the full cost for Office 2016 before receiving this software.

Purchasing is considered a "license" to run legitimate software, giving buyers the right to use Office 2016 permanently. In other words, the license does not have an expiration date and users can run it until they want.

Single purchase for Office Professional Plus 2016 (Windows) and Office Standard 2016 for Mac (macOS), enterprise-class SKU is only available through bulk licensing; and retail packages like Office Professional 2016 (Windows), Office Home and Business 2016 for Mac (macOS).

Office 365 is a subscription service (Microsoft's purchase method is currently the most focused), with payments made monthly or annually. For example, Office 365 Business Premium costs $ 150 / year / user (equivalent to $ 12.50 / user / user, if paid yearly), and $ 15 / month if paid monthly (equivalent to 180 $ / year).

All business packages - from E1 to E5, as well as ProPlus - do not have a monthly payment option, which requires a yearly commitment.

Like any subscription service, Office 365 offers a service - in the case of Office, which is the right to run Office suite applications - as long as payments continue to be paid. To stop the payment, the permission to run the application will terminate. (In fact, they do not stop working immediately; applications will continue to function normally within 30 days from the due date)

The right to use Office later depends on the payment. Pausing payment, the "license" will be revoked. Continue to pay, the license will be restored.

Office 365 plans provide services for from an individual user (Office 365 Personal), small businesses (Office 365 Business), educational institutions (Office 365 Education E5) to companies (Office 365 Enterprise E3 ).

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How each version of Office works

Although payments determine the difference between Office 2016 and Office 365, the pace of development and publication of Microsoft's new Office suites is even more important for IT users and professionals to support them. .

Consider Office 2016 as the traditional software produced and sold in the traditional way. Microsoft provides monthly security updates for Office applications, usually on the second Tuesday of each month, and also fixes the non-security errors in the first 5 years of SKU.

But Office 2016 does not receive an upgrade with new features and functions. What you get when you buy it will be preserved. When Microsoft creates a new edition (Office 2019 or Office 2020 for example), you will have to pay another fee to use it.

Office 365 has a completely different service model. While Office applications licensed to users through Office 365 receive security fixes (distributed for both Office 2016), they are also equipped with new scheduled features and functions. twice a year. Three months ago, Microsoft revised the update schedule. The company said it would release an upgrade in September and March every year. The first edition will be released September 12.

Once enough new features and functions have been accumulated until some time Microsoft feels the need to launch new applications, such as Office 2019 or Office 2020, the company will pack those versions into a lift. issued to customers who buy goods once or have paid in advance. (Microsoft has pledged to do this for the successor of Office 2016, ie Office 2019, but the old versions are not.)

How Office links with cloud services

Office 2016 and Office 365 are not really cloud-based, but both can connect to Microsoft cloud services (and with a few third-party services but to a very limited extent). Currently, bundled offers when purchasing Office 2016 and applications installed as part of Office 365 packages can connect to services such as Exchange, OneDrive and Skype for Business.

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However, in April, Microsoft announced a major change in the rights of successive versions after Office 2016. After October 13, 2020, Office applications are available through pre-purchased software. must be in the "Mainstream" support phase, the first 5 years of 10 years of traditional warranty, to connect with Microsoft cloud services.

This change is aimed at customers who use a combination of traditional cloud services and one-time payment software because it benefits 1.5 times more time. At the same time, this change also spurred Microsoft's efforts on enterprise customers to use Office 365. And the company did not hesitate to declare the following:

"Office 365 ProPlus is the recommended app for Office 365 users" (according to Alistair Speirs, senior program manager, in a blog post in April). "This is an application that is constantly updated and ensures the best service experience".

Applications obtained from the Office 365 package will never have a date disconnected.

How will Office be supported in the future?

On February 1, 2018, Microsoft revealed changes in how it will support Office 2019, its successor to Office 2016 in the "buy once" category, after its release later this year. The company also previewed a change in the form of support for Office 365, especially the ProPlus component - desktop applications - expected to take effect in January 2020.

1. Frequently asked questions about Office 2019

Microsoft will plan to cut support for Office 2019.

"Office 2019 will provide 5 years of major support and about 2 years of extended support," said Jared Spataro, Office general manager, writing in a February 1 post on the company's blog. This is to match the support period for Office 2016. Extended support will end on 10/14/2025. As Spataro implies, Office 2016 support will also end on October 14, 2025.

Office 2016 received 10 years of support (5 years in the section "Mainstream" support, 5 years in "Extended"). Office 2019 will receive only 7 years, corresponding to a 30% reduction. Because Mainstream support of Office 2019 will probably end in October 2023, it will be a cut to connect Office 2019 applications with Microsoft cloud services.

The suspension of concurrent support of Office 2016 and 2019 is the strongest signal that Microsoft will eliminate the one-time purchase option after Office 2019, and the only way to buy this license for using this office suite is Office 365 packages.

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Spataro also revealed other clues about Office's future. "It is imperative to move our software in a more modern way," he wrote, implying that years of support for permanently licensed software would be a burden to Microsoft or putting customers at risk ( maybe both).

Along with reducing support time, Microsoft also announced that Office 2019 will only be supported on Windows 10. Although Windows 7 still has support for more than a year and Windows 8.1 is more than four years before Office 2019 released, but Office 2019 will not be supported on those operating systems anymore.

Meanwhile, Office 365's ProPlus will also be cut back on support time.

The new policies show that Windows 10 is the only supported version of Microsoft operating system since January 14, 2020. Windows 8.1 will also not be supported by Office 365 ProPlus, like the LTSC Windows 10 version ( Long-term Servicing Channel - Long-term service channel.

In other words, Office 365 subscribers running PC Windows have less than two years to upgrade to Windows 10 if they continue to use this subscription service.

"This will ensure that both Office and Windows receive regular updates, combined to provide the safest environment with the latest features," Spataro said.

In an increasingly unsafe Internet environment, Microsoft's changes are perfectly reasonable. If you are using an operating system version, Microsoft's old Office should consider upgrading them to get better support from the company.

See more:

1. Compare Microsoft Office 2016, Office 365 and Office Online
2. How to download Microsoft Office version completely free?
3. Microsoft Office Online: Free, full of essential features, latest version, everywhere use, no loss of files, what are you waiting for without trying?