Users with perpetual licences understandably become impatient because they don’t have access to new features they have seen or heard about, or because they cannot view or use or view the new features those with later versions have included in a model. As a consultant, I have always had to take care to find out the oldest version of Excel the client is likely to be using and make sure that I don’t use any features or functions in the model that won’t work in their version of Excel. It is not unusual for me to run a public training course and have three or four different versions of Excel being used by different participants in the class. This means that at any one time there has always been a wide range of versions in use in the general community. Large organisations with many users that have purchased perpetual licences often wait several years before upgrading due to the cost and are usually at least one or two versions behind. With this type of licence, the user does not receive any updates to their software until the next version is released and installed.
Historically, Microsoft has always sold a “perpetual” licence that is purchased outright and owned forever – I can still remember purchasing my first laptop together with a hideously expensive CD containing Microsoft Office. What is the difference between a perpetual and a subscription-based licence? Excel 2019 is the perpetual, bought-outright, stand-alone version of Excel and Excel 365 is the subscription-based version of the software. There’s not much difference between them right now in terms of functionality it’s just a different licensing arrangement. What’s the difference between Excel 2019 and Excel 365? Whilst preparing the third edition of my first book, Using Excel for Business Analysis, I’ve been on the latest, most up to date version of Excel through the Microsoft Insider Program and have been using the new tools a little earlier than I would normally have done. In the versions since then, the changes have been somewhat less traumatic for users and in recent years Microsoft has been moving towards a subscription-based model, making the changes incrementally rather than all at once.Īlthough Excel 2019 is technically not yet available, many of the new features are already accessible if you’re on the Office 365 subscription.
The introduction of the Ribbon and change of file types caused all sort of difficulties for heavy-duty Excel users, financial modellers included. The biggest change was way back when the big jump from Excel 2003 to 2007 occurred. Each time an updated version of Excel is launched, new features are introduced and subtle changes in the look and feel take place.
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