Microsoft today made a very significant announcement – a major update that will give users the ability to create, share and collaborate all in one place with their favorite apps.
The Software giant says “Office is becoming Microsoft 365”, a major change to its Microsoft Office branding. After more than 30 years, Microsoft Office is being renamed “Microsoft 365” to mark the company’s collection of growing productivity apps.
Microsoft says, “In the coming months, Office.com, the Office mobile app, and the Office app for Windows will become the Microsoft 365 app, with a new icon, a new look, and even more features.”
While Office apps like Excel, Outlook, Word, and PowerPoint aren’t going away, Microsoft will now mostly refer to these apps as part of Microsoft 365 instead of Microsoft Office.
Changes will begin rolling out for Office.com in November 2022. And then changes will begin rolling out for the Office app on Windows and the Office mobile app in January 2023.
The new update has been long in the making, with Microsoft rebranding some of its Office 365 plans to Microsoft 365 back in 2020.
The Microsoft 365 branding originally started as a subscription package for an enterprise Windows 10 and Office 365 bundle, but Microsoft gradually decided to turn Microsoft 365 into the umbrella beneath which nearly all other “Office” products reside.
Office isn’t going away entirely, at least not right away. Microsoft says it will continue to offer one-time purchases of individual Office apps via Office 2021 and Office LTSC plans, and there will be no changes to Office 365 subscription plans.
Microsoft recently announced two updates during its Surface event. The company said it is removing barriers to users’ access to their iPhone photos and videos on Xbox consoles and Windows devices.
Through a new integration with iCloud and the Photos app in Windows 11, users will be able to access all their photos and videos from your iPhone right in the Photos app.
Also its dedicated Apple Music and Apple TV apps will be available on Windows devices come 2023.
These steps will help Apple-delayed users who seem to be putting less effort into making it easier to access outside of the Apple ecosystem.
