Microsoft Launches Office LTSC 2024 for Commercial and Government Use

On September 16, Microsoft announced the general availability of the Office LTSC 2024 release for commercial and government volume customers. This version of Office is a stable, “frozen-in-time”iteration of Microsoft’s productivity suite aimed at clients with specific needs that do not necessitate constant feature updates or cloud services.

In a recent blog post, Microsoft highlighted that Office LTSC 2024 incorporates a selection of features introduced in Microsoft 365 Apps over the past three years. Notable enhancements include dynamic charts and new array functions in Excel, improved search and meeting creation in Outlook, as well as better performance, security, and accessibility features.

The company indicated that Office LTSC 2024 will receive support for five years under the Fixed Lifecycle Policy. Additionally, it can be deployed alongside Microsoft 365 Apps using a consistent toolkit for organizations managing hybrid environments.

To assist customers in adopting the new release, Microsoft has published a variety of resources, including a deployment guide and a comparison page that outlines the differences between Office LTSC 2024 and Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise clients.

Alongside Office LTSC 2024, Microsoft is also launching updated versions of Project LTSC and Visio LTSC for commercial and government customers. These new LTSC releases are set to be generally available to all customers starting October 1.

While the introduction of Office LTSC 2024 is not unexpected—having been previewed by the company earlier this year—it’s important to note that Microsoft has been encouraging customers to transition to its cloud-based offerings, including Microsoft 365 and Microsoft 365 Apps subscriptions, for several years now.

Nonetheless, a significant number of customers have yet to adopt a cloud subscription, and in recognition of this, Microsoft continues to release new iterations of Office LTSC. The company has previously stated that it plans to continue developing Office LTSC releases for the upcoming decade.

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