Microsoft's 'Office Online' is now just 'Office'

Microsoft offers a few different versions of Office, with the main three being Office 2019, Office 365, and Office Online. However, that last version is now dropping the Online bit and becoming simply Office.

So why the change? In a post on the Office Apps Blog, Bill Doll, Senior Product Marketing Manager for Office Apps Strategy, explains that because Office is now offered across a range of platforms, it makes little sense to use any "platform-specific sub-brands." With that in mind, Office Online drops the Online sub-brand, as do all the apps under its umbrella, so Word Online, Excel Online, Powerpoint Online, etc. all drop "Online," too.

In reality, Microsoft is just dropping one term for another and readily admits as much. We are used to hearing different versions referred to as Office for Windows, Office for Mac, or Office for iOS. Now we're probably going to hear what was formerly Office Online referred to as Office for the web.

Confused? Hopefully not, but Microsoft does, "encourage people to use whichever terminology is most appropriate and provides the most clarity for a given context."