Slashdot Mirror


Microsoft Launches Office 2019 For Windows and Mac (theverge.com)

Microsoft is releasing Office 2019 for Windows and Mac today. The update is designed for businesses and consumers that haven't opted into Microsoft's Office 365 service with monthly feature updates. The Verge: Office 2019 is essentially a subset of features that have been added to Office 365 over the past three years, and it includes updates to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Project, Visio, Access, and Publisher. Office 2019 will include a roaming pencil case and ribbon customizations across all Office apps. Microsoft is also bringing focus mode to Word, alongside a new translator, and accessibility improvements. Morph transitions, SVG and 3D model support, play in-click sequence, and 4k video export are all coming to PowerPoint. According to VentureBeat, which cites a Microsoft executive, the new versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook won't receive future updates.

22 of 143 comments (clear)

  1. No by Artem+S.+Tashkinov · · Score: 3, Informative

    Microsoft launches yet another all-grey cannot-discern-anything UI abomination.

    FTFY.

    Compare Office 2019 to the last sane version of ribbonized Office, which was 2010.

  2. Finally by 110010001000 · · Score: 5, Funny

    The features I have been waiting for: roaming pencil case and play in-click sequence. Whatever they are charging, it isn't enough.

  3. So what? Still the same as 20 years ago. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's not like the last >20-30 years brought any meaningful changes, let alone changes that anyone actually uses.

    It's gonna be a UI design change (for the worse), to trick you into feeling like something changed, a few trinkets here and there, and of course the hefty load of "cloud AI $buzzword digital assistant $buzzword" spyware that is "all the rage" among true psychopaths nowadays.

  4. Still using Office 2010 by crgrace · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm still on Office 2010. I don't understand the point of these "upgrades" (Google just did the same thing to gmail). Basically all they do is make me re-learn an interface I'm already comfortable and in return they introduce zero useful functionality.

    I guess a few years ago it was a big innovation to use all caps in the menu headings?

    1. Re:Still using Office 2010 by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The chief issue my company is facing is contractual requirements of software being sufficiently up to date to receive security updates. In just over 24 months Office 2010 be EOL, meaning we have to upgrade sooner rather than later.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    2. Re: Still using Office 2010 by WCMI92 · · Score: 2

      I still use Office 2003.

      --
      Corporatism != Free Market
    3. Re:Still using Office 2010 by harrkev · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Can you please tell me something significant that current Word can do that Word 97 couldn't do?

      But yeah, the reason is that Word 97 would open in about 1/4 second flat on any modern machine. That is unacceptable, and means that an upgrade is not needed. Upgrades are the heart and soul of both the hardware and software worlds.

      --
      "-1 Troll" is the apparently the same as "-1 I disagree with you."
    4. Re:Still using Office 2010 by lgw · · Score: 2

      I believe Office 2019 is the final version you can actually buy, where Office 365 is the "nice documents, shame if anything should happen to them" billing model.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    5. Re:Still using Office 2010 by omnichad · · Score: 2

      Open/save XML-based document formats? In reality, the new formats do nothing for you except allow you to open and re-share files created by other people.

      Also, Word 97 does not have High DPI support. On the other hand, opening a second document opens in a separate window. So on the whole it's hard to say which is the winner. I don't have a license to Word 97, though.

      Native PDF export is also nice, but there are plenty of free PDF-printing alternative options for that.

    6. Re: Still using Office 2010 by jbengt · · Score: 2

      Which was probably the best version of Office.

  5. Marketing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    The new features are so revolutionary compared to Office 2016 that the version number 2017 wouldn't do it justice. Neither the version number 2018. We think it deserves a jump ahead by 3 versions. Welcome to Office 2019!

  6. Still hate the ribbon by TomR+teh+Pirate · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'd pay good money for the next version of Office if they'd let the user ditch the ribbon for the classic menu drop-downs.

  7. Has Office had a new feature worth buying by WCMI92 · · Score: 2

    Since Office 97?

    Seriously?

    --
    Corporatism != Free Market
    1. Re:Has Office had a new feature worth buying by afidel · · Score: 3, Informative

      Sure, Office 2007 upped the max row count for Excel to 2^20 instead of 2^16, Office 2010 get rid of the god awful binary blob format for documents which resulted in about 90% fewer file corruption issues. Outlook has gotten better with each release.

      --
      There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
  8. No More OneNote :( by DarkRookie · · Score: 2

    I actually use this a lot. Is pretty helpful for me.
    Sad that it is being removed and there really isn't a replacement.

    --
    The millennial that doesn't like most of the stuff designed for millennials.
  9. Re:I can understand being locked in on a PC office by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 3, Insightful

    One word: Enterprise.

    Fortune 500 companies are not homogeneous. They run Windows AND Macs. Having documents with cross-platform support is a no brainer requirement regardless of how bad MS enforces Stockholm Syndrome.

  10. Notable things for better or worse by slack_justyb · · Score: 2

    I'm sure everyone can argue the merits of the new Office, hell LibreOffice does everything I need it to, so that's what I use. But the features aside, let's take a moment to remember that no one knew for sure up to a point if Office 2019 was actually going to be a thing or not. Microsoft had indicated that 365 was the future, and if I was a betting person, this 2019 may be the last "retail" version we see. That isn't to say there will never be an offline version, but I feel that the days where Microsoft sells Office to John and Jane Doe are starting to sunset.

    That said, I figure I'd point out a few new things for this release. That's not to say any or all of these things justify the price or that this is everything, it's just a list of features I found interesting.

    Word 2019

    Add the ability to use LaTeX notation to do mathematical equations. Ability to understand SVG with filters, better SVG rendering. Better 4K support. Several accessibility fixes and new features such as configurable audio cues for features and UI theme for hard of seeing.

    Excel 2019

    New visualizations. Publish to a Power BI server from Excel. Embedded Power Query and Power Pivot into the main product. Namespaces for Excel functions. Some Excel functions can be remoted using a style similar to JS promises. Custom functions for use in Excel can now be written in JavaScript. Excel now offers connectors for Flow. New Insight functionality. Multiple users can edit a workbook if stored on a SharePoint server or in OneDrive.

    PowerPoint 2019

    New animations, transitions, and so on. (Think copy of all the on-line guys like Perzi and what not). Hardware pens that are used in Windows 10 can now be used to present. Tighter integration between Excel and PowerPoint to allow the same visualizations there to be used in PowerPoint.

    That's the big three there and those are just the new features I found to be interesting. There's more. Oh also, the chart engine for MS Access has been completely redone and there's a few new data types added to Access. However all these features said, there are some features in 2019 that won't be there that will only be in 365. An example is the ability to @ anyone anywhere in the big three of Office and it show up in their Outlook.

  11. Re:Office 1st rel. 1990 - any notable improvements by jwhyche · · Score: 2

    Unfortunately they have failed miserably and the entire suite is still a shiny polished turd of limited functionality

    An yet it is the most widely used office software that ever has been. Probably makes more money for Microsoft what all their other products combined. If you call this a shiny polished turd of limited functionality, I wonder what your ideal of premium software is.

    --
    I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
  12. Re:Pay, pay, PAY, AD INFINITUM by jwhyche · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That's the new Miscreant-o-sodomite business model: Make everyone pay for everything, forever. Fuck this whole 'software-as-a-service' bullshit, fuck it sideways with a rusty chainsaw, I say.

    Lets look at this 'software-as-a-service' for a moment. I'm looking at a quote from amazon for office 2016 pro, which is the version I have in my office 365 subscription. The version of 2016 listed on amazon is $359. I pay $69 a year for my office 365 subscription.

    Taking into account a 3 year upgrade cycle, 2016-2019, my cost over those 3 years is $207. So if you are someone that likes to keep their software up to date, and some of us we have to do so because of business reasons, its cheaper to go with office 365. The other perks that M$ tosses in, like the 1 TB of cloud storage and being able to put it on my tablet, and phone are just gravy.

    So it clear that if you are in a business that needs to keep your software updated it is better to go with a office 365 subscription.

    Now then if you are a home user, a student, or a business that can skip a few upgrade cycles, then the stand along version is a better choice. I mean, really, office 2010 is still perfect software for 95% of everyone out there.

    --
    I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
  13. Re:And ... by jwhyche · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And ... what is the advantage of all that over LibreOffice again? For 99.9999% of people?

    Well you have the idiot factor. I installed libreoffice on my nieces laptop for college. She turned in a paper to her professor and got it rejected. He said 'the paper must be turned in written in M$ word." He didn't even look at her paper because she "didn't follow directions."

    I loaded the paper in office 2010, 2013, 2016, and office 365. It was just fine. Her mistake was telling him she used libreoffice and his is he is just a god damn moron.

    --
    I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
  14. Re:Pay, pay, PAY, AD INFINITUM by jwhyche · · Score: 2

    Renting thing is never cheaper over the long term.

    You really should stop using bold in your posts so much. I'm sure I'm not the only one that finds this annoying.

    But anyway, this is completely dependent on what you value. i owned a house once. I hated every minute of it. I had to keep my yard cut and the flower beds neat. I was responsible to keep the pool in order. When something broke, I had to fix it or pay to have it fixed.

    I rent an apartment now. When I want to go out to the pool, I just go. Grass needs cutting, a hoard of immigrant labor shows up and does the job. Last week the compressor on my A/C went out. I called maintenance and two days later they put in a whole new A/C. It's a nice one too. Looks like at least couple of grand for it. I can hang meat in my apartment now.

    --
    I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
  15. Re:And ... by jwhyche · · Score: 2

    Well PDF would have been ideal but Word format was required, and the only option. Which is kind of shitty because not everyone can afford a $150 office package. That is why I told her to go with libreoffice to start with. She didn't protest, just saved a copy from word on my desktop and handed it a day later. She took a letter grade hit for it. No changes where made to the original document so I doubt word even saved it.

    I felt bad for her since I was the one that recommended libreoffice in the first place. I sprang for her a copy of office.

    I can actually understand the IDE example you gave, but this wasn't source code. It was a social studies paper written in courier font in a mla format. She probably could have written it on notepad++.

    --
    I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.