Microsoft announces major changes to Office 365 system requirements

When enterprise customers connect to Office 365 with a legacy version of Office, they’re not enjoying all that latest features and improvements service has to offer, and the enterprise IT will not have access to the latest security and reliability benefits and end user experiences in the apps is limited to the features shipped at a point in time. Microsoft today announced major changes to Office 365 system requirements for Office client connectivity. From October 13th, 2020, Office 365 will only allow Office client connectivity from subscription clients (Office 365 ProPlus) or Office perpetual clients within mainstream support to connect to Office 365 services. Microsoft will share more details about how this change will affect the user experience for affected desktop clients in the future.

• Office 365 ProPlus or Office perpetual in mainstream support required to connect to Office 365 services: Starting October 13, 2020, Office 365 ProPlus or Office perpetual in mainstream support will be required to connect to Office 365 services. Office 365 ProPlus will deliver the best experience, but for customers who aren’t ready to move to the cloud by 2020, we will also support connections from Office perpetual in mainstream support.
• Applies to Office 365 commercial services only: This update does not change our system requirements or support policies for the Office perpetual clients, Office perpetual clients connecting to on-premises servers, or any consumer services.
• More than three years’ notice: We’re providing more than three years’ notice to give IT time to plan and budget for this change. Until this new requirement goes into effect in 2020, Office 2010, Office 2013 and Office 2016 perpetual clients will still be able to connect to Office 365 services.

It is nice to see Microsoft is providing over 3 years advance notice for this change to Office 365 system requirements which will give enterprise customers enough time to review their long-term desktop strategy, budget and plan for any change to their environment.

You can read the updated system requirements here.