Microsoft Office users who refused to switch to a subscription model were very happy to hear last year that Microsoft was planning to launch a new version of the suite without a subscription. Now Microsoft has confirmed it's definitely launching this year as Office 2021.
Although Microsoft would really rather you subscribe to Office, due to the "widely embraced benefits," it realizes some customers either can't or simply won't move to the cloud. So "later this year" Office 2021 is launching for consumers and small businesses.
Although there's still very little detail on what to expect from this new version, Microsoft has shared some new information. First of all on pricing, which will remain the same as Office 2019. For reference, Microsoft Office Home & Student 2019 costs $149.99, while Home & Business 2019 costs $249.99. In both cases, the license is for a single user/PC/Mac.
Microsoft also confirmed that Office 2021 will be made available for both Windows and Mac users, includes the OneNote app, and offers a choice of 32-bit and 64-bit versions. The majority of users will be best off choosing the 64-bit version, but it's good to see support is still there for older hardware. Finally, Microsoft is promising Office 2021 will be supported for five years, giving you peace of mind you can spend the cash and be guaranteed to have a version of Office that will receive bug fixes and security updates until 2026.