The software giant announced on Wednesday that it will be renaming its flagship product suite to Office 365. The new name and logo are part of a broader effort to make the software more consumer-friendly. “We want people to feel like they’re using the same tools, whether they’re at home or at work,” said Rajesh Jha, corporate vice president for Office 365 marketing. “We want them to have a single place where they can get their work done.” The new branding will roll out over the next few months in English and Spanish. Microsoft also plans to release localized versions of Office 365 for China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and Spain. ..
Microsoft revealed in a support article that Office.com, the Office mobile app on Android and iPhone/iPad, and the Office app for Windows will have a new name: Microsoft 365. There will also be a new icon, seen above, a hexagon with blue and purple colors. The company says you won’t have to do anything to maintain access to your apps and features, and the standalone apps on desktop (like Word and Excel) aren’t affected at all.
The Office app on Windows and Office.com have mostly served as a simple portal to your recent documents, while the mobile version is the main way to use Word, Excel, and PowerPoint — those apps are still available separately, but the Office app packs them into one single download. Microsoft says more features are coming to the desktop and web apps, including a dashboard for subscription information and storage usage, more templates, and better sorting. Word, Excel, and other apps will still be separate on desktop.
The name and logo comes after Microsoft changed “Office 365” to “Microsoft 365” back in 2020, since the subscription service now includes apps and services that don’t have anything to do with the long-running Office suite, such as Microsoft Editor. The app now fits the name of the subscription service, which should mean less confusion — after the confusing rebranding process is over, anyway.
Source: Microsoft
