Microsoft announced two upcoming versions of Office, one designed for consumers and something aimed at commercial businesses. For consumers, Microsoft will release Office 2021 by the end of the entire year. Microsoft also announced a variant from the Office Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) designed for businesses that need a static version of Office.

Office 2021 is really a form of the Office suite that doesn't require a Microsoft 365 subscription. Similar to Office 2019, it's built for people and smaller businesses that want to use Office try not to desire a Microsoft 365 subscription.

Office 2021 will be supported for five years and is a one-time purchase. Microsoft doesn't plan to change its pricing compared to Office 2019. A brief FAQ in the post announcing Office 2021 also states that it'll be on Windows and macOS which may have 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

There exists a post comparing Office 2019 vs. Office 365 that explains the main difference between Microsoft's different versions of Office. Many of the points in that post also will apply to Office 2021.

We do not be aware of features and changes that will arrive with Office 2021, so we'll need to watch for additional information from Microsoft. The Verge points out that Office LTSC will include such things as dark mode support, accessibility improvements, and other features. It adds that Office 2021 for consumers will have similar additions.

Office LTSC is for another use case than Office 2021. Microsoft explains that Office LTSC is perfect for "regulated devices that cannot accept feature updates for years at a time, process control devices on the manufacturing floor that aren't connected to the internet, and specialty systems that must stay locked in some time and require a long-term servicing channel."

Microsoft expects businesses to make use of Office LTSC in specific scenarios rather than rolling it across an entire organization.

Microsoft's Jared Spataro, head of Microsoft 365, told The Verge, "We certainly have a large amount of customers that have gone to live in the cloud during the last 10 months, that's happened en masse really. At the same time, we definitely have customers who have specific scenarios where they don't seem like they can proceed to the cloud."

Office LTSC will be supported for five years going forward, that is two fewer than what Microsoft provided previously.