Microsoft Announces Preview of Office LTSC for Windows and Office 2021 for Mac

Microsoft has recently confirmed that Office 2021 is the next perpetual version of its famous productivity suite, and while the company still hopes everybody would make the switch to its subscription-based service, it still wants to help those needing the traditional Office suite to stick with its product.

This week, Microsoft officially announced the commercial preview of Microsoft Office Long Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) for Windows and Office 2021 for Mac, which is specifically aimed at computers without Internet access and which can’t be updated on a regular basis.

With support for up to five years, Office LTSC comes with an approach similar to Windows 10 LTSC, and will therefore include all features from the previous versions of the productivity suite.

At the same time, Microsoft says it’s also included a new pack of features available in Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise.

More previews on their way

“The next perpetual version of Office for commercial customers is built specifically for organizations running regulated devices that cannot accept feature updates for years at a time, process control devices that are not connected to the internet in manufacturing facilities, and specialty systems that must stay locked in time and require a long-term servicing channel. Office LTSC will provide the familiar productivity tools you have experienced with Office 2019, now with faster performance and expanded accessibility,” Microsoft explains.

The new previews are available today for all enterprises on this page.

“Office LTSC will be deployed using Click-to-Run exclusively, just like Office 2019, so IT admins can take advantage of modern deployment technology to help reduce costs. Office 2021 for Mac will use the standard Apple Package format (pkg) - the same technology that we have used for previous perpetual releases, including Office 2019 for Mac and Office 2016 for Mac,” Microsoft explains.

The company adds that commercial previews for SharePoint and Project Server are also just around the corner.