It was expensive and no one enjoyed keeping track of the license code but at least you could understand the concept. You used to get a license for the Office programs with a new computer, or in a box at Best Buy. One of the most popular Bruceb News articles attempts to describe the difference between a Microsoft account and an Office 365 account, a distinction that continues to bring strong people to tears. “Office 365” cannot be used safely to refer to a business account any more. Then in 2013 the branding confusion got exponentially worse when Microsoft decided also to use Office 365 as the marketing term for consumers to buy subscription licenses for the Office programs. Office 365 started as a group of services for business that included email and Sharepoint as well as licenses for the Office programs. In 2011 Microsoft launched Office 365, which only tangentially related to the name “Office” as it had been used until then. In addition to the installed programs, there are online versions of the core programs mobile versions of the core programs for iOS and Android phones and tablets new services like Office Sway, a tool for quickly creating polished web presentations Skype for Business, not really Skype but a rebranded version of Lync Planner, an upcoming project management portal and Office Delve, an online tool for surfacing information in a company portal. Versions of the core programs are available on every computing platform known to man but they’re only the tip of the iceberg for what is referred to as “Office” in 2015. Today Microsoft Office is an enormous collection of programs, servers, and online services. Wikipedia lists 20 additional programs and services that have been included at various times under the “Office” umbrella and discontinued. Office has always been more than the core programs. Grouping the programs into different combinations meant the number of bundles multiplied – most recently the choices of Office suites on store shelves included Home & Student, Home & Business, Standard, Professional, and Professional Plus. Easy so far, right?įor more than twenty years, Office continued to be a bundle of programs, but the number of programs included under the Office name increased fast, adding Outlook, Publisher, OneNote, Access, and more. In 1988, Microsoft announced the release of Office, a bundle of programs that contained Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Let’s tackle three questions: (1) What is Microsoft Office? (2) What’s in the new version of Office? (3) How do you get the new version? I’m brave and foolish and I’m going to take a crack at it, but don’t blame me if your eyes glaze over. There is no way to explain any of this without getting hopelessly tied up in knots. Microsoft has completely lost control of branding and licensing. The new version of Office 2016 for Windows is now generally available.
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