Microsoft today announced a new version of its office software suite; Office 2019. The new version of Office should be released next year and is aimed at users and companies that are not yet ready for the cloud.
Office 2019 was announced during Microsoft's Ignite Conference, currently held in Orlando, Florida. The software is scheduled for the second half of next year, despite that the software has the year 2019 in its name.
The first preview versions of the new products are expected to become available mid-next year. The basic version will include Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Outlook. Office 2019 is the successor to Office 2016 which was released in the summer of 2015.
Office 2019 will include new features for customers who are "who aren’t yet ready for the cloud", as Microsoft's General Manager Jared Spataro writes in a blog on the company's website.
While the company heavily focuses on the cloud, it recognizes that some companies prefer other ways of accessing their software. Spataro writes about that, "we recognize that moving to the cloud is a journey with many considerations along the way. 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, and we look forward to sharing more details about the release in the coming months."
In its announcement Microsoft also reports that Office 2019 will come with new formulas and charts that will make data analysis for Excel more powerful and Powerpoint will get more visual animation features.
