Helping customers shift to a modern desktop

Quelle: Link

Support for Office 365 ProPlus on Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2016
Office 365 ProPlus delivers cloud-connected and always up-to-date versions of the Office desktop apps. To support customers already on Office 365 ProPlus through their operating system transitions, we are updating the Windows system requirements for Office 365 ProPlus and revising some announcements that were made in February. We are pleased to announce the following updates to our Office 365 ProPlus system requirements:

  • Office 365 ProPlus will continue to be supported on Windows 8.1 through January 2023, which is the end of support date for Windows 8.1.
  • Office 365 ProPlus will also continue to be supported on Windows Server 2016 until October 2025.

Office 2016 connectivity support for Office 365 services
In addition, we are modifying the Office 365 services system requirements related to service connectivity. In February, we announced that starting October 13, 2020, customers will need Office 365 ProPlus or Office 2019 clients in mainstream support to connect to Office 365 services.

To give you more time to transition fully to the cloud, we are now modifying that policy and will continue to support Office 2016 connections with the Office 365 services through October 2023.

Servicing and support flexibility

Longer Windows 10 servicing for enterprises and educational institutions
In April 2017, we aligned the Windows 10 and Office 365 ProPlus update cadence to a predictable semi-annual schedule, targeting September and March. While many customers—including Mars and Accenturehave shifted to a modern desktop and are using the semi-annual channel to take updates regularly with great success, we’ve also heard feedback from some of you that you need more time and flexibility in the Windows 10 update cycle.

Based on that feedback, we’re announcing four changes:

  • All currently supported feature updates of Windows 10 Enterprise and Education editions (versions 1607, 1703, 1709, and 1803) will be supported for 30 months from their original release date. This will give customers on those versions more time for change management as they move to a faster update cycle.
  • All future feature updates of Windows 10 Enterprise and Education editions with a targeted release month of September (starting with 1809) will be supported for 30 months from their release date. This will give customers with longer deployment cycles the time they need to plan, test, and deploy.
  • All future feature updates of Windows 10 Enterprise and Education editions with a targeted release month of March (starting with 1903) will continue to be supported for 18 months from their release date. This maintains the semi-annual update cadence as our north star and retains the option for customers that want to update twice a year.
  • All feature releases of Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Pro, and Office 365 ProPlus will continue to be supported for 18 months (this applies to feature updates targeting both March and September).

In summary, our new modern desktop support policies—starting in September 2018—are:

Changes to the Office 365 ProPlus system requirements (February 1, 2018)

Quelle: Link

Published: February 1, 2018

Office 365 ProPlus delivers cloud-connected and always up-to-date versions of the Office desktop apps. To ensure that customers get the best value from ProPlus and Windows 10 together, we are making the following updates to the ProPlus system requirements for Windows:

  1. To clarify our current support practices for ProPlus running on Windows 10, ProPlus will not be supported on Windows 10 Semi-Annual Channel (SAC) versions that are no longer being serviced per the Windows 10 lifecycle. Office ProPlus will be supported on Windows 10 versions in active servicing and in servicing extensions as outlined here.
  2. Effective January 14, 2020, ProPlus will no longer be supported on the following versions of Windows and Windows Server—this will help customers get the best experience by receiving regular updates to both Windows and Office:
    • Any Windows 10 Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC/LTSB) release
    • Windows Server 2012, 2012 R2, and 2016
    • Windows 8.1

Delivering Office 365 ProPlus remotely via Remote Desktop and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) continues to be a key scenario for our customers. Microsoft is committed to enabling Office 365 Pro Plus in this scenario along with key Windows 10 experiences like Microsoft Edge, Store for Business, and Cortana. Later this year we will deliver these capabilities within the Semi-Annual Channel release cadence of Office, Windows 10, and Windows Server. Join the Windows Server Insider Program to get early access to these capabilities.

Go here to learn more.