Microsoft announced the launch of Office LTSC 2024, the commercial version of the new edition of the productivity suite for companies and organizations. The consumer version will be available by the end of the year and will not differ from the enterprise version except for support. Both work under operating systems Windows and Mac.

This version of Office is intended for local installations and does not require an Internet connection to function, which can be a big draw for certain use cases, especially government clients. Or anyone who doesn’t want to subscribe and prefers a one-time payment.

By default, it contains the application Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneDrive and OneNote. In addition, the higher version “Plus” provides the database application Access, while Project and Visio will be launched for all customers by October 1st. The version no longer includes Publisher, as that tool has been discontinued, nor Teams, which will be offered as a separate download as with Windows.

Office LTSC 2024, long life for local software

Yes, friends. Those of us who thought that Office 2021 would be the last version of the on-premises suite (once the Microsoft 365 cloud version was confirmed to be boosted) were wrong again. Microsoft’s bet is still the cloud, and the company recommends it to the vast majority of its clients, placing this Office LTSC 2024 as “solutions for special needs”.

In other words, Microsoft wants to cater to companies and users who prefer to use a suite with local installations, under perpetual license one time payment and no mandatory subscription. As we have said since the first leaks, the Redmond firm does not want to leave the way open to alternatives that exist and are excellent, some like the free and open source LibreOffice.

Although Microsoft promises that the new set will offer “significant improvements” Compared to the previous version, Office 2021 also points to its shortcomings, including AI capabilities. And that’s worth acknowledging The cloud version is better in capabilities and featuresoffers more applications; better integration between them; enables storage and better collaboration; It offers all the features of the suite and is quickly and conveniently updated with both features and security. But if you don’t want to pay online, cloud, internet and subscription, here you have an alternative.

Office 2024 LTSC will receive official support for at least five years in accordance with its fixed lifecycle policy. We will have information about the version for consumption “in the next few weeks” for a confirmed release by the end of the year.