Microsoft Office 2019 released for Windows 10 and MacOS

For people who like to own software, not rent it

Microsoft has released the latest version of its Office suite, Office 2019, for MacOS and Windows 10.

However, the software is intended only for Windows 10 - not Windows 8 or 7 - and only for the most recent three versions of MacOS.

Furthermore, Microsoft is clear in its aim to push all users to Office 365.

In a support page detailing the release, Microsoft is keen to point out that Office 365 is "the most secure, intelligent and collaborative version of Office", but hesitantly notes that some customers might not yet be ready to make the "journey" to the cloud.

Microsoft Office 2019 includes updates to the usual suite of productivity software: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher, Access, Project, Visio and OneNote.

We're pleased to confirm that we're committed to another on-premises release in the future

And included in this version are "improved inking features across apps". This encompasses the roaming pencil case, pressure sensitivity and tilt effects, more powerful data analysis in Excel, with improved business intelligence integration, and new presentation wizardry in Powerpoint, including Morphing and Zooming.

Office 2019 will include easier deployment for system administrators that, Microsoft claims, will make it easier to keep on top of updates and security patches too.

However, Microsoft is also keen to point out that such features come to Office 365 ProPlus subscribers first, with some of them available for the past three years. It adds that Office 2019 is a one-time release that won't receive further updates.

Despite the company's shift to cloud-based subscription services, the company is promising Office 2019 won't be Microsoft's last on-premise release.

"Office 2019 is a valuable update for customers who aren't yet ready for the cloud," Microsoft says. "And each time we release a new on-premises version of Office, customers ask us if this will be our last. We're pleased to confirm that we're committed to another on-premises release in the future."

Office 2019 is available to commercial volume licence customers from today and will roll out to consumers over the next few weeks.

Also up for release from Microsoft in the coming months are Exchange 2019, SharePoint 2019, Project Server 2019 and Skype for Business 2019.