Microsoft has released a public preview of Exchange 2019, the on-premises email server software the company will start selling later this year.
First promised in September 2017, when Microsoft announced that sneak peeks of perpetual versions of the Office applications - Word, Excel, Outlook and the like - and Office-centric servers would land in the middle of the following year, Exchange 2019 is set to launch sometime this fall.
Microsoft has already issued previews for Office 2019 for Windows and the Mac, although both betas have been aimed at commercial customers, not consumers.
Like the previews of the productivity suite's applications, the one for Exchange 2019 is a snapshot of features that have long been live in the Azure-based version that Microsoft offers within the Office 365 business and enterprise plans. In that regard, the Redmond, Wash. developer's on-premises software deserves a label of second-class, since it can never match the functionality of what's delivered to Office 365 subscribers.
Microsoft didn't bother hiding its preference of Office 365 over on-premises, sounding almost apologetic as it introduced the preview of Exchange 2019. 'We strongly believe Office 365 delivers the best and most cost-effective experience to our customers, but we understand that some customers have reasons to remain on-premises,' the company's Exchange team said in a Tuesday post to a company blog.
Among the new features in Exchange 2019, Microsoft called out its pairing with Windows Server Core, the minimalist installation that dispenses with tools and capabilities, including a graphical user interface, to reduce the attack surface as well as disk space. When finalized, on-premises Exchange 2019 will install on Windows Server 2016 Core, Windows Server 2019 Core or Windows Server 2016/2019 with Desktop Experience.
Take a Peek Microsoft launches Office 2019 preview for Mac for commercial users Now Mac users can get an early peek at what's coming to Office 2019. The 2019 releases of on-premises Exchange Server, SharePoint Server and Skype for Business Server, which are due out before the end of 2018, are now available in public preview form.
Windows Server 2019 is in a preview period of its own at the moment, with an expected release this fall.
Search on Exchange 2019 has been 're-engineered ... using Bing technology to make it even faster and provide better results,' Microsoft said, and the on-premises version will include features such as 'Simplified Calendar Sharing' that already exist for Office 365 customers.
Although Microsoft has declined to say whether the perpetual versions of Office 2019 and its servers will be the last offered as on-premises software, it's likely that the application suites themselves - for Windows and Mac - will be available only through Office 365 once Office 2019 (the perpetual version) is forcibly retired from support after just seven years, not the usual decade.
The preview of Exchange 2019 can be downloaded from this page as a disk image (in .iso format) of nearly 6GB.
Besides Exchange 2019's preview, Microsoft has also issued betas of Skype for Business Server 2019, SharePoint Server 2019 and Project Server 2019, which, the company noted, 'wraps up our set of commercial previews for Office 2019.'
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Microsoft Office 2019 for Mac Preview has officially been announced today. This is the perpetual version update to the Office 2016 version.
That means only volume license users, aka enterprise users, can use it for now.
What is new in Microsoft Office 2019 for Mac ?
Just like Microsoft Visual Studio 2019, the company is focusing on getting things faster in Office 2019. New features in Office 2018 include customizations in the ribbon in all applications in the suite. Word has a new focus mode, Word Translator, and improved inking. PowerPoint has an improved roaming pencil case, lets you insert and manage icons, SVG, 3D models, morph transitions, a 4K video export option, and the ability to play in-click sequence.
There are some new charts including Funnel charts and 2D maps, and functions for CONCAT, TEXTJOIN, IFS, SWITCH in Excel. Outlook now supports the focused inbox (to deliver all important emails in one place, and puts non-urgent mails in the regular inbox), @mentions, Office 365 Groups (for Exchange accounts), Travel and delivery summary cards, delay or schedule delivery of emails using Send Later, templates for emails, & Read and delivery receipts.
Some of these features were not available for Mac 2016, but included in Office 365 ProPlus. That’s because they were mostly added after the last standalone version was released. Speaking of which, the difference between Office 2019 and Office 365, is the latter is a subscription based service, powered by the cloud. Office 2019 is a one-time purchase which can be used offline.
What is included in Microsoft Office 2019 for Mac Preview?
All 5 core client apps, i.e., Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote are available in the Office 2019 Preview.
Where can I download Microsoft Office 2019 for Mac Preview?
Since this preview is only available for volume license users, it is a commercial preview. So, you cannot download it for free if you are a home user or an individual license user. If, however you are an Enterprise user, you can sign up on the official website, for accessing the Preview.
The reason Microsoft has released the preview is to get feedback from users, before the final release. And since a lot of companies use Office 2016 (volume license), it shows that not every business is ready to move to the cloud, which is why Office 2019 is offered in the first place.
Microsoft Office 2019 For Mac Download
When will Microsoft Office 2019 be released for general availability?
Microsoft Office 2019 for Mac will be released alongside the Windows version later this year.