It’s been some years since Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 brands coexist in the market. The first is, without a doubt, one of the oldest, most reputable and most successful in the history of Microsoft. The second, for its part, is intrinsically linked to Microsoft’s strategy, begun more than a decade ago, to become a services company (without abandoning software, of course). The coexistence of both brands has meant, yes, a certain confusion in some cases.
And it is that as you already know, if you are a user of the Microsoft subscription service, the service itself is Microsoft 365, although at the time it was Office Online, and Office 365, and as a user of Microsoft 365 you can download the desktop versions , which are grouped as Microsoft Office, although at least in the case of Windows, when after downloading and installing one of them you run it, its splashscreen it does not mention Microsoft Office, but Microsoft 365. But, yes, if you want to buy the office suite, what you should look for is Microsoft Office. Doesn’t sound like gibberish, it is.
This coexistence is justified by what was indicated at the beginning, the relevance of the Office brand, together with the spirit of change of Microsoft 365, but the truth is that many years have passed and, consequently, it was time that Microsoft take some step to start undoing the mess that, for not a few users, involves the simultaneous use of the two brands. And the good news is that, as part of Microsoft Ignite 2022, Microsoft has decided to end the Office brand and include office applications in the Microsoft 365 application.
This change to Microsoft 365, which will be done gradually it will not mean, however, any change in Word, Excel, PowerPointetc., that is, all the applications that make up the Microsoft office suite will not experience name changes, nor will other aspects of them be modified, but the Office application, which serves as launcher Of all the apps installed on the system, in addition to also providing direct access to the latest documents and files that we have used, it will soon be replaced by a new launcher that already adopts the new identity of the suite.
The transition will start to take effect shortly, in Novemberalthough initially we will only see it in the web version, that is, in the service, where the launcher and the elements that still refer to Microsoft Office will be replaced by 365. As for desktop applications, both for PC and for devices, its arrival is expected in January 2023.
It will keep its name, yes, at least with the current version, the “software only” version of the suitethat is, the one that we can acquire independently of the service, with a single payment, and of which the current version is Microsoft Office 2021, as well as Office LTSC, will maintain their identity at least until the arrival of a new major version, for which still has no scheduled date.
More information: Microsoft
