Microsoft has been a leader in the world of technology since its inception. The company has changed the way people work, lowered costs for small businesses and enterprise companies alike, and made computers more user friendly.
This year, Microsoft is making three changes its own that could alter the tech landscape once again.
Microsoft Releases Office 2019
The Microsoft Office suite of productivity products has been a mainstay of the company for decades now, but big changes are underway for 2019 and beyond. This year, Microsoft will officially launch Office 2019 – and businesses need to be ready.
If you currently use Office 365, you’ll find the newest Microsoft offering quite familiar. Like Office 365, the new Office 2019 product includes staples like Excel, Word, Visio, Project, Outlook, PowerPoint and Publisher. And like the current version of Office, the upcoming Office 2019 is designed to harness the power of the cloud, making file storage easier and allowing employees to work from anywhere.
The most distinguishing feature of Office 2019 is how it will be released. Unlike Office 365, which has experienced a series of changes since its initial release, Office 2019 has been designed as a one-time product. In 2019, businesses will need to decide if the move to Office 2019 is the best strategic decision for their company.
Microsoft Teams Replaces Skype for Business
If you’ve placed a video call to a colleague across the country, or a family member on the other side of the globe, you understand the power of Skype. Now, Microsoft is changing things again by replacing Skype for Business with Microsoft Teams.
Microsoft Teams is the long-awaited replacement product for Skype for Business, and the new release includes a number of corporate-friendly features. On October 1, 2018, Microsoft officially announced that new customers with fewer than 500 seats would no longer receive Skype for Business as part of the Office 365 product line.
In 2019, the replacement of Skype for Business with the new Microsoft Teams will finally be complete. Unlike Skype, Microsoft Teams has been designed from the ground up with business users in mind, incorporating a host of powerful features to make collaboration and file sharing easier. By harnessing the power of cloud computing, Microsoft Teams has designed a single platform that businesses should find very useful.
The new Microsoft Teams product includes an easy to use chat app, as well as all the capabilities of Office 365 and Slack. Businesses looking for a reason to upgrade should find this combination quite compelling.
Contact Ontech at 262-522-8560 for more information on available onsite user training for your company.
Microsoft to Rebuild Edge with Chrome Engine
While Microsoft has long been a leader in operating systems and server software, the company has not seen the same success with its browser products.
Some older versions of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser were plagued by security issues and glitch performance, and the company saw a steady decline in market share as newcomers like Mozilla’s Firefox and Google’s Chrome came on the scene.
The old Internet Explorer eventually gave way to a new browser dubbed Edge, but the new product suffered from many of the same issues. Now, Microsoft is rebuilding it using the same open-source software that powers Google Chrome and they’re even bringing it to Mac devices.
The rise of open-source software has been a major story over the past couple of years, and the retooling of the Edge browser is just the latest example. While Microsoft Edge isn’t going away, if you already use the browser, you’ll notice that websites display more consistently after this under-the-hood change.
For Chrome users, all of these changes also mean that the browser engine that powers Chrome will get better on Windows which is part of Microsoft’s continued effort to make the web a better place for everyone.
As fast paced as technology is, we understand updates like these can feel cumbersome and at times confusing.
Whether you have questions about Microsoft’s products or any other IT related issue, contact our support team online or call us at 262-522-8560. Ontech Systems is dedicated to the success of your business, and we are always here to help.
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