Microsoft has announced that Office 2021 will be released at the same time as Windows 11, and not just for its latest operating system. Office 2021 will be available without needing to pay a monthly subscription, too.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Microsoft-Office-2021-will-launch-alongside-Windows-11-and-without-a-subscription.562920.0.html
No way am I moving away from Microsoft 365.
The Cloud storage, 60 minutes of international calls per month are great value, worth paying the subscription fee just for that.
But the real value is time, the amount of time that the built in (to word, Excel and PowerPoint) AI saves me each month is more than enough without the other benefits.
Anyone that does not know this should do their research before buying the non-AI version of Office.
There is only one way to say it. M365 makes my day easier across all my devices.
*Fine print* Office 2019 was licensed for one device. I have many devices which would mean I have to buy many versions of Office $$$$$ or one subscription for all my devices at just the normal price $$$
Cheaper and. Better. Make your own mind up, don't be guided to a more expensive option that does not work as well.
If you are a large Corporation who wants all data to be on your own server, and who has your own means of remote access, then all the benefits (of any device) are mute. You want to control who and what device has access, and you want Office sitting on your own server. Be it 356 or 2021. So then it would all be about functionality, and look and feel. With no additional training.
The stand alone versions of Office are best. Pay once and forget about it until there's a new computer. Moreover, Microsoft and Google and the three letter agencies all scan anything you save to "the Cloud", i.e. their computers.
Oh, the new features you, say. It's the same program re-hashed again and again .. and again. Most people use about 5% of the "features" in the version from two iterations ago let alone the current one.
I still use Office 2007, mostly because there's no way I'd pay a subscription for it and because I hate the cloud, but also because 2007 does everything I need it to, and I have zero reason to believe, based on what I've seen from MS, that newer versions would be better or have any of the issues fixed. And unless the new version has some major surprises up its sleeve that somehow make it much easier to create a document or spreadsheet, I plan on sticking with 2007 until LibreOffice catches up to it, if that ever happens.