[ms office - 2016] Differences between 2016 and 365

[SuperduperPackager]

Hi,

 

I'm trying to figure out if there's any difference between using Office 365 and Office 2016 for an organisation.

 

Office 365's activation seems to be user based while Office 2016's activation is machine based, but besides that, is there anything else that would make you choose one over the other?

 

I heard Office 365 has other advantages like better integration with online features like OneDrive and such but I can't find any information to confirm this.

 

Thanks

[jmak]

I presume you found the M$ answer:

 

https://support.office.com/en-US/article/What-s-the-difference-between-Office-365-and-Office-2016-ed447ebf-6060-46f9-9e90-a239bd27eb96

 

My view: if you want users to use O365 (online storage, O365 mail etc) then you should seriously consider installing O365. If you're not moving to the M$ or any other cloud, stick with a traditional Office install. It can still be configured to use cloud storage and remember, you can sign up for O365 for the organisation which gives staff and pupils the right to download and install O365 on up to 5 of their personal devices.

[SuperduperPackager]

I presume you found the M$ answer:

 

https://support.office.com/en-US/article/What-s-the-difference-between-Office-365-and-Office-2016-ed447ebf-6060-46f9-9e90-a239bd27eb96

 

My view: if you want users to use O365 (online storage, O365 mail etc) then you should seriously consider installing O365. If you're not moving to the M$ or any other cloud, stick with a traditional Office install. It can still be configured to use cloud storage and remember, you can sign up for O365 for the organisation which gives staff and pupils the right to download and install O365 on up to 5 of their personal devices.

Yeah I had seen this but it doesn't give much detailed information. We are already migrated to Office 365 but we don't use ADFS for Office 365 and we don't plan to and so there's a nasty activation box that pops up for every user and there doesn't seem to be any way to remove that besides going the ADFS route which is out of the question.

 

I'd like to find a page that lists on a technical level all the differences between the 2 versions. For example, it seems the update process is completely different in each case and Office 365 would offer newer versions of its applications compared to Office 2016. I need to dig more into that but just looking at Skype from Office 365 and Skype from 2016, there is a difference.

[SuperduperPackager]

Found something interesting: https://www.msoutlook.info/question/office-update-channels

 

So basically, with 2016 you don't get the new features at all and with 365 you do, that's a huge difference.

[xlandhenry]

The biggest advantage with the click-to-run version is that it's getting several feature updates over the year, whereas the MSI version(2016) haven't got any noticeable new features since its release.

[jmak]

We're subscribed to O365, but not using it (I haven't given anyone their MS account login details). We also have Office OVS-ES subscription.

 

Can I use the click to run facility to deploy Office 2016 (I don't want any of the other O365 features)?

 

Just thinking about alternative ways to deploy Office.

[Boredguy]

Using the Click to Run would require you going to each workstation, launching the click to run, then getting every user to login to their account to activate the office instance.

 

Compared to deploying Office 2016 via the download from the MS Volume Licence which you can do via group policy, and if you have a KMS server configured with the licence, it automatically activates.

 

As for updates, Office 2016 gets the new features via the Windows update the same as normal. Can't say I've noticed any difference between the full install on the office computer and click to run 2016 at home.

[jmak]

I'll carry on as before then

[Michael]

Office 2016 = Business/Education use

 

Office 365 = Home use

 

Office 2016 is designed to be deployed to large numbers of devices, using the same MAK/KMS key, whereas Office 365 isn't, it's much more personalised.

 

Even as an experienced user, I probably use around 25% of Word's full functionality. I'd rather end users have a version which remains the same, until next big Office upgrade, say Office 2018/19 etc... otherwise end users could be using different versions, which is problematic in terms of support.

[xlandhenry]

We're subscribed to O365, but not using it (I haven't given anyone their MS account login details). We also have Office OVS-ES subscription.

 

Can I use the click to run facility to deploy Office 2016 (I don't want any of the other O365 features)?

 

Just thinking about alternative ways to deploy Office.

 

Click-to-run version requires users to log in their accounts in order to activate. So you have to at least give the accounts to them. You can assign only the proplus licenses if you don't plan to give them other O365 features.

[mrbios]

I'd rather end users have a version which remains the same, until next big Office upgrade, say Office 2018/19 etc... otherwise end users could be using different versions, which is problematic in terms of support.

 

This!

 

Especially considering the MIS implications. If you're using something that's progressively updated, aren't you going to fall outside of sims supported versions each time a new big update comes out?

[Michael]

This!

 

Especially considering the MIS implications. If you're using something that's progressively updated, aren't you going to fall outside of sims supported versions each time a new big update comes out?

 

There is that, or simply move with the times and move to a modern MIS MIS systems don't come into my mind when looking at applications that are widely used on a daily basis, considering Microsoft are quite open with release schedules.

[SuperduperPackager]

Thank you all for your input.

 

We decided to stick with the volume licence version for labs but we'll be installing O365 for everybody else. You can deploy O365 with SCCM in the same manner as the volume licence version, with a configuration file. You don't actually have to "click-install" it from the web page.

 

The O365 version auto-updates itself and it includes the latest Office features that you cannot get with the volume licence version. We will use the Current channel for ppl of the IT department and the Deferred channel for everybody else so we'll get to test the new features before they are rolled out to everyone and foresee possible problems.

 

Users will have to activate one of their 5 licences on their work computer but we don't have any issue with that. They are still left with 4 activations they can use at home or wherever they like. They can also manage their 5 licences themselves from the Office 365 website which is pretty convenient.

 

For shared computers where ppl rotate alot, we will simply use the SharedComputerLicensing option enabled by GPO.

 

Here are a couple of links that helped me decide which version to use:

 

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt455210.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396

https://www.msoutlook.info/question/office-update-channels

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj219426(v=office.15)

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn708063#BKMK_Prepare

https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/educloud/2015/03/20/how-to-setup-shared-computer-activation-step-by-step-for-your-education-environment/

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj219423.aspx

Edited December 16, 2016 by SuperduperPackager

[ReadTheNetwork]

Office 2016 = Business/Education use

 

Office 365 = Home use

 

Office 2016 is designed to be deployed to large numbers of devices, using the same MAK/KMS key, whereas Office 365 isn't, it's much more personalised.

Not sure this is entirely true. Office 365 and Office 2016 are for business use and home use.

 

Office 365 is subscription basis and Office 2016 is one off purchase. If your license allows it I'd recommend Office 365 if you want virtualisation, they have made Office 365 easy to virtualise. It's not just a cloud product, from my understanding it's pretty much Office 2016 but easier to do updates.

 

I'm pushing towards Office 365 in 2017.