The next perpetual version of Office for commercial customers will be called Office LTSC (Long Term Servicing Channel),releasing in the second half of 2021. The commercial previewwill be available in April 2021.
The next Windows 10 LTSC comes 2021
For consumer and small to medium businesses (SMB), the next perpetual version of Office will be called Office 2021 andgoverned by the Modern Lifecycle Policy for a minimum of 5 years. The stay current model of theModern Policy will allow users to take advantage of newer features like modern coauthoring within Office 2021.
The next version of Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC, releasing in the second half of2021, will change to a 5-year lifecycle, aligning to Office LTSC. The lifecycle for previouslyreleased versions of Windows 10 LTSC will not change.
We announced the next Windows LTSC would be built on Windows 10, version 21H2, and yes it will be a 5 year support lifecycle. We can expect that the next LTSC *after* Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2021 will be built on Windows 11. And it will also keep the 5 year support. However, that's expected in 3 years or so, so anything can happen in that timeframe. If you need to use LTSC for a longer period, we recommend moving to Windows 10 IoT LTSC.
Consumer customers can purchase Microsoft Office 2021 for Windows and Mac and commercial customers can now purchase Microsoft Office LTSC for Windows and Mac. Office 2021 and Office LTSC 2021 are the next perpetual releases of Office. They include improvements over Microsoft Office 2019 and earlier versions of on-premises Office.
Since Microsoft is releasing Windows 10 LTSC versions every 3 years, informed observers were aware that the next LTSC release would be in 2021 at the earliest. Microsoft employee Joe Lurie writes that the next LTSC version of Windows 10 is currently planned for the end of 2021.
Today we are announcing that the next version of Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC and Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC will be released in the second half (H2) of calendar year 2021. Windows 10 Client LTSC will change to a 5-year lifecycle, aligning with the changes to the next perpetual version of Office. This change addresses the needs of the same regulated and restricted scenarios and devices.
Office LTSC, Office 2021 and the Coming Price Increase Microsoft will not just cut the next Office LTSC release's product support by five years. It's also planning to increase the product's price by about 10 percent.
In a Feb. 18 post to a Microsoft blog, Joe Lurie, senior product marketing manager, announced that the next iteration of Windows 10 LTSC, aka "Long-term Support Channel," will be released in the second half of this year. That timetable means the next LTSC will be pegged as either Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2021 or Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2022.
Today we are announcing that the next version of Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC and Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC will be released in the second half (H2) of calendar year 2021. Windows 10 Client LTSC will change to a 5-year lifecycle, aligning with the changes to the next perpetual version of Office. This change addresses the needs of the same regulated and restricted scenarios and devices. Note that Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC is maintaining the 10-year support lifecycle; this change is only being announced for Office LTSC and Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC. You can read more about the Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC announcement on the Windows IoT blog.
Microsoft officials said earlier this summer that the next version of Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC will be available "toward the end of 2021." (Thanks for the link, @getwired.) Because Microsoft usually times the releases of new versions of Windows 10 client and Server to arrive together, I'm taking this as meaning the current Windows Server test builds are for Windows Server 2022 -- my guess at the name Microsoft will give this product.
The last, Windows 10 2019 LTSC (based on 2018's Windows 10 1809, aka the October 2018 Update), was given a little over 10 years of support to January 2029. Those days are now over. The next LTSC release of Windows 10 will occur in the second half of 2021 and switch to a five-year support lifecycle, matching that announced for Office LTSC.
Update: On February 18th, 2021, Microsoft announced that the next versions of Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC and Windows 10 IoT Enterprise will be released in H2 of 2021. Microsoft further announced that the Windows 10 Client LTSC will change from a 10- to a 5-year lifecycle, aligning with the next perpetual version of Office. Please note that Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC will still maintain the 10-year support lifecycle. Microsoft made these changes to better align their support schedule with client needs. For further information, please see Microsoft's announcement.
The change in Office LTSC support duration will now better align with how Windows is supported, and Microsoft is also aligning its release schedules for both Office and Windows more closely as a result. Both of the next versions of Office LTSC and Windows 10 LTSC will be released in the second half of 2021.
The announcement does not indicate when or if these LTSC Operating Systems will be affected later on. For now we may assume that Internet Explorer could be supported on the current LTSC versions until the Operating System itself is no longer supported. We may receive information on this later, perhaps when the next LTSC versions are released. Currently Windows Server 2022 is in preview and the next Windows 10 LTSC version is announced for the second half of 2021. 2ff7e9595c
Comments