Microsoft Office 19 will only be available as Click to Run
Microsoft Office 2019 is expected to be released during calendar Q4. While the date is not firm, the looming price increase in October is a good indicator. This is a major milestone for the company because they are abandoning the MSI deployment model and shifting exclusively to their new Click to Run deliver mechanism tied into the Office 365 line of licensing. This has more pervasive implications than just a deployment model; it is the first the publisher is pushing their client base into a subscription model. We have seen this from other publishers, like Adobe, who also had a very strong, nearly uncontested, presence in the creative space. The push to the subscription benefits the publishers by giving them a consistent annuity stream instead of unpredictable spikes in large upgrades. It also takes the pressure off the development teams by allowing for smaller incremental additions to be made when they are more relevant to the market instead of building up enough enhancements to justify selling it as a major release. This does sound like it is all in favor of the publisher but it is also benefits the consumer in some aspects as well. Updates and patches can be deployed much more easily in a subscription model with the Click to Run technology reducing the burden on the desktop support teams. New features are released more frequently to meet market demands. In this same release, Microsoft is also choosing to support Office 2019 on Windows 10 only. While other legacy OSs are still in support, their focus is to drive towards this always current model.
Office 2019
Price Adjustments
https://blogs.partner.microsoft.com/mpn/announcing-price-adjustments/