Microsoft Office 2021 and Windows 11 will launch on October 5. But Microsoft Office Long Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) for Windows and Mac OS launched yesterday, September 16. The Microsoft LTSC does not require a monthly subscription apart from a one-time purchase, and it is suitable for commercial and government customers.
Microsoft LTSC might be attractive to organizations that do not modify their word-processing needs or computer software every month. For such businesses that utilize Microsoft Office to work, buying a locked-in time release such as the LTSC might be the best consideration. It will not be modified over the years to get new updates, and it will not have the features of Microsoft 365 which are fully powered by cloud technologies and AI.
Microsoft however made it clear that Office LTSC will be supported for at least five years before the company turns attention to something similar. Meanwhile, Microsoft had stated in an earlier announcement that Office LTSC will work perfectly on Windows with 32- or 64-bit configurations.
Some similarities between Office LTSC and Office 2021 include Line Focus. This feature makes it easy to use Word documents in a line by line fashion without any distractions. It works like a reading mode in other apps. There is also the XLOOKUP feature, which helps to locate items within a table or row in an Excel worksheet. The products also have dark mode as well as dynamic array support.
Although Microsoft Office 365 has more than 300 million paying subscribers, the company advises that it is profitable to use Office 365 for commercial businesses. Microsoft said there will be price increment for Microsoft 365 and Office 365 from March 2022, but the actual price for Microsoft Office 2021 remains to be known.
It is possible that the company will reveal the price and features of Office 2021 before the October 5 launch date.