Microsoft Office and Microsoft Word 2021 Ends Support in 2026. Why?

Question

Microsoft Office and Microsoft Word 2021 Ends Support in 2026. Why?

Anonymous

Hello,

I currently have Microsoft Office 2010, which ended support about two years ago. Even though I'd been advised that I do not need to buy Office 2021 or Word 2021 as long as I have a good antivirus, I decided to go ahead and purchase Word. I also do not work in an office, which means there are no compatibility issues with colleagues.

When I called the Microsoft Store to purchase, I was told by a couple of representatives that Office/Word 2021 has ten-year support by Microsoft, until 2031, just as Office 2010 had a ten-year support until 2020; however, I subsequently found out that Microsoft will end support of Office/Word 2021 in 2026, so only a five-year support. Why is this?

I have zero interest in buying Office 365 because I both can't afford and don't need an annual subscription. I also have no interest in the Free Word because I've been told it lacks many important features, including a basic spelling and grammar check.

I don't know what Microsoft is thinking: Are they assuming that those people who pay for Office/Word are all in business, meaning that they MUST keep up-to-date because of compatibility issues, so either they'll purchase a 365 annual subscription or do a one-time purchase, while everyone else will opt for the free version? There are plenty of people, like me, who want the advanced features offered from a one-time purchase of Microsoft Office/Word, though every ten -- not every five -- years.

Not sure what to do now except move to Google's free version, which offers spelling/grammar corrections. Though some experts on this forum said I could continue to use Office 2010 as long as my antivirus is working well, I also was told there are loopholes to that antivirus security, though I'm not sure what they are -- something about Word/macros/no security pulling together.

Does anyone know why Microsoft is not continuing to offer ten-year support for one-time purchases of Office/Word?

Thanks,

Daffy D

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Answer 1

Hell Charles Kenyon,

Thank you for reminding me that this is not a Microsoft-owned forum, and, yes, your speculation on subscription-based software sounds correct; however, I read that one reason Microsoft is continuing to offer one-time Office purchases is because their customers were up-in-arms over forced subscriptions. What I don't like is the misinformation I was given by actual Microsoft employees, two to be exact, until another told me the support is only for five, not ten, years. For people who are independently employed or retired or the like, buying Office/Word every ten years is reasonable, not every five.

Daffy D

Yes, they had planned that Office 2019 was it. They changed their minds.

Adobe is pushing subscription licenses, so are other software vendors.

Support ends.

So what?

I continue to use Word 2010. It still works fine.

I know many who continue to use Word 2003. It does what they want.

Both still work; neither is supported by Microsoft.

This means that you buy the product. Microsoft will stop spending money to help you use it after time.

Have you purchased a car recently?

How about a washing machine?

The Mac versions are tied to the current Mac OS plus one.

When I first started buying word processing programs they cost far more than they do now in dollars that were worth more.

Look around for them now.

WordStar
MultiMate
Remember Lotus 1-2-3?

You can always simply install OpenOffice/Office Libre which includes a good word processing program and does not cost anything.

You could use Google Docs, but I would not especially recommend that.

Answer 2

For quite a few years the best Antivirus software for Windows PC has actually been: Windows Defender. That's right, the pre-installed Antivirus software by Microsoft.

I would recommend uninstalling third party antivirus software, if you even can, because most of them are notoriously hard to uninstall. Almost as if they themselves were a virus. If you pay money towards anyone of those services, I would definitely terminate any contracts.

Cheers

Answer 3

Charles Kenyon 166.4K Volunteer Moderator

This is a user-to-user support forum, not Microsoft.

No one here can tell you why Microsoft does anything.

We can, and sometimes do, speculate.

My speculation is that they have decided that their path to the future is subscription-based software, i.e. Microsoft 365.

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Answer 4

Word Star!!! I loved Word Star... I used it on an old Apple with 2 5 1/4 " drives (no hard disk)...

Then I got an IBM and started using Word Perfect.... Goooooood times!!!!

MultiMate was also two floppy disks at first, one for the program and one for data files. I have used many word processing programs over the years. Used to write 800-line macros in WP.

Word is different but I've grown to love it. If you expect it to act like other programs, or even like you expect, you will be disappointed, though.

Answer 5

Hell Charles Kenyon,

Thank you for reminding me that this is not a Microsoft-owned forum, and, yes, your speculation on subscription-based software sounds correct; however, I read that one reason Microsoft is continuing to offer one-time Office purchases is because their customers were up-in-arms over forced subscriptions. What I don't like is the misinformation I was given by actual Microsoft employees, two to be exact, until another told me the support is only for five, not ten, years. For people who are independently employed or retired or the like, buying Office/Word every ten years is reasonable, not every five.

Daffy D

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Microsoft Office and Microsoft Word 2021 Ends Support in 2026. Why?

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