Office 2024 is now available for purchase at $149 — Office Home & Business 2024 will set you back $249

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2024-10-02 13:00:17

Consumers can now buy Microsoft’s Office 2024 productivity software suite. Though Redmond seems to prefer that users subscribe to its Microsoft 365 offering, which includes Office apps, it provides this perpetual licensed alternative for a one-off payment, tacitly acknowledging online services aren’t for everyone.

The list of new features in Office 2024 isn’t exactly exciting. It brings perpetual Office 2021 folk up to date with a range of features introduced to the Microsoft 365 subscription offering in the interim.

Since Microsoft committed to its cloud computing strategy, it grudgingly refers to the one-off Office suite as providing “locked-in-time versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook for PC and Mac.” However, locking them in time is its business strategy, and MS could send more than just security patches down the tubes if it wishes.

It may be tempting to call the one-off purchase of Office 2024 for consumers and small businesses the ‘offline’ version of the suite. However, Microsoft says it “requires both a Microsoft account and an internet connection.” We aren’t sure if that is just a necessity for registration and some online resources - it shouldn’t run much deeper than that.