
Learn about the different licensing options for Microsoft Office using an analogy. The second way is through a subscription think of this approach as renting the software. The first of these is how you have bought Office products typically: as a box that contains a product key-or even a product key that you buy online, and then install the product on your computer.

Sometimes, oversimplification can help! Broadly speaking, there are two ways through which you can buy Microsoft Office: 1.

By the end of this article, we hope you will understand these concepts clearly. That's the reason we decided to create this plain English guide to explain what Microsoft 365 means, and how it relates to desktop versions such as Office 2021, Office 2019, Office 2016, and Office 2013. Clearly, there needs to be a resource explaining these distinctions. Maybe the descriptions themselves kept changing as the product lines evolved, and many people were as confused as we were. Nowhere have we found content that describes the distinctions between these different terms well. If you echo even half the doubts raised in the preceding section, then you are not alone. Yes, this is the Mac version of Office, but the Office for Mac pages on Microsoft’s site contain so many references to Microsoft 365 or Office 365, and you’ll see that Microsoft 365 includes Office for Mac as well! Will this work on your Mac computer? Isn’t this the desktop version of Microsoft's Office suite that includes familiar programs such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc? Then why do you see Microsoft 365 or Office 365 mentioned everywhere on Microsoft's web site-even on the pages for Microsoft Office? Is there a connection? 3. Is Microsoft 365 the name of a web site? Or is it also a subscription-based product? If it is a subscription, is it for using online applications? Or does the subscription allow you to install and run standalone Office apps that can be run on your desktop machines? Or even phones and tablets? Or is this some online storage stuff that is called a cloud these days? Or is Microsoft 365 all of these? 2. Let's first find out what’s confusing with all this terminology: 1. Are desktop versions the same as Microsoft 365? Well, there is no straight yes or no answer! But it does matter because many people can’t understand where the distinctions are. However, you may have also heard about their other different, but still similar product offerings such as Microsoft Office 2021, Office 2019, or other versions for the desktop, for both Windows and Mac. We discuss these brands in more detail in our Microsoft 365 Versions page.

So, Office 365 is not dead and nowadays both brands, Microsoft 365 and Ofice 365 exist. There are exceptions, and some offerings continue to be branded as Office 365. Microsoft 365 is the new name for what was previously known as Office 365, and this is largely true.
