Business Applications and Services

SharePoint Server and Project Server received updates in May 2016, and the Office suite, Exchange Server, and Skype for Business (formerly Lync Server) received updates in 2015. The on-premises software versions will continue to incorporate some improvements and features that first appear in Microsoft’s Office 365 hosted services and subscription software. (See the sidebar “Office 365 Software and Services“.)

The 2016 versions of SharePoint and Project Server require recent versions of Windows Server and SQL Server, so many organizations will have to upgrade infrastructure to deploy them on-premises. (See the chart “Application Versions Supported on Recent Platforms“.)

Office Clients

The Office suites for Windows are Microsoft’s most widely used client applications for business. They enable document editing, data access and manipulation, e-mail, presentation, and collaboration on Windows PCs. The most important suites for large organizations are Office Professional Plus, Office Standard, and Office 365 ProPlus. Office Professional Plus and Office Standard, licensed Per- Device, are available exclusively through volume licensing programs. The Office 365 ProPlus suite is sold on a Per-User subscription basis and consists of the same applications as Office Professional Plus. Office Professional Plus 2016 suites start with the same features as Office 365 ProPlus, but they will diverge over time as the Office 365 ProPlus suite receives additional updates and new features. These suites include combinations of the following applications: