Microsoft has released different versions of the Office suite. To give you an objective comparison and help you choose between office 2016 or office 2019 that will equip your employees' workstations, it is interesting to study the technological and functional differences between the perpetual license versions (on premise) 2016 and 2019. The analysis of the technical requirements of the versions will also guide your choice according to the hardware upgrades you may have to consider when choosing between office 2016 or office 2019.
Brief history of office 2016 and office 2019
The office suite Office 2016 is the oldest version; released from 2015 with a standard support end date of 2020. Office 2019 is the newest version; it was released starting in 2018 with a standard support end date of October 2023. These two on-premise versions mark a turning point in the history of Microsoft office suite. The 2016 version, optimized for Windows 10, offers a new experience with a more accomplished collaborative dimension. It offers the ability to collaborate online with document co-editing, real-time document sharing with OneDrive, and accessibility of shared documents from any environment and any device, desktop or laptop, mobile (smartphone and tablet) and via a web client... The Office 2019 version also has expanded functionality and a rich portfolio of applications. It is remarkable because it is announced as the last perpetual version of the office suite of Microsoft.
What applications are available in office 2016 and office 2019
Office 2016
Depending on the edition (only the Standard, Professional and Professional Plus versions are considered), Office 2016, which is available for download, includes basic applications such as Word (word processor), Excel (spreadsheet), PowerPoint (presentation software), OneNote (digital notepad), and specific applications such as Outlook (email client), Publisher (desktop publishing software), Access (relational database) and Teams (collaborative communication software deployed in SaaS mode). Real-time document sharing and collaborative work is possible thanks to the online storage space in the cloud with the OneDrive application. The deployment of office 2016 can be enriched with the related applications SharePoint 2016 (collaborative platform), Project 2016 (project management software) and Visio 2016 (diagramming software), etc.
Among the highlights of office 2016 are the implementation of autosave routines that improve application performance and limit system errors, universal image and video compatibility, and intelligent search and help tools.
Office 2019
The office 2019 license (only supported on Windows 10 and 11) comes in Standard, Professional, Professional Education and Professional Plus editions. This approach only considers business versions. It is available as a download, for easy deployment to users in your organization. The main innovation of this office 2019 version is the Click-to-Run installation feature that replaces the usual Windows Installer.
This Office 2019 version includes the same portfolio of applications as office 2016, i.e. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, Access and Skype Enterprise (Teams). You can similarly complement the office suite with the SharePoint 2019, Project 2019 and Visio 2019 applications. In each of these applications, new features are deployed, including real-time collaborative work, text-to-speech, new charts for Excel. Despite the proximity to Microsoft 365, this 2019 version does not benefit from all the functional innovations that are implemented on the on demand version of Office 365.
Technical requirements for office 2016 or office 2019
The choice between office 2016 or office 2019 is primarily dictated by a functional requirement, but it is also necessary to consider the hardware component of your computer park. You will be able to evaluate the cost or the benefits according to whether you are going to integrate office 2016 or office 2019.
The prerequisites for the installation of the office 2016 license in 32 or 64 bits are for Windows an x86 or x64 bits processor, clocked at 1 GHz, 2 GB of RAM and 3 GB of hard disk space. In terms of environment, the office suite can be installed on a PC equipped with windows 7, 8, 10. For Apple, you need an Intel processor, 4 GB of RAM and 6 GB of hard disk space.
The prerequisites to run office 2019 are for Windows a processor clocked at 1.6 GHz 2 cores, 4 GB of RAM and 4 GB of hard drive space. For Apple, you need an Intel processor, 4 GB of RAM and 10 GB of hard disk space.
In view of the proximity of the two versions and the technical requirements, the choice between the office 2016 or office 2019 must lean in the majority of the cases towards office 2016. This version will save you money on used licenses and extend the life of your IT equipment.
