Microsoft threw a poster preview bone to cloud-phobes* immediately in the form of on-premises versions from the Server and Office applications.

Whilst software giant really, is wanting its customers snugly ensconced while in the loving embrace of Office 365, realists within Redmond Towers take on that a large subject of their customers should keep their data firmly in their own data centres.

Since those users obviously find all the goodies that regularly are available in Office 365 updates, the 2019 release should bring a short-term sense of parity. Kind of.

Exchange 2019

Exchange 2019 will take advantage of 48 processor cores and 256GB RAM. Handy for indexing and Bing-powered searching, beyond the usual mail and appointment flinging duties.

Be careful not to Forward and Simplified Calendar Sharing, already familiar to Office 365 users, make a look and feel as well as tools to be able to admins with delegating permissions.

Unfortunately, the upgrade fairy giveth and taketh away, and users could well be bidding farewell to Unified Messaging role. An ongoing Skype for Business Server or third-party PBX will no longer be able to be hooked up to an Exchange 2019 mailbox. Instead you will have to either jump to Skype for Business Server 2019 and take advantage of Cloud Voicemail, or bite the bullet and migrate to Office 365.

There's that pesky cloud again.
Skype for Business Server 2019

All who have inflicted Skype on the organisations uncover an on-premises upgrade that, frankly, is mostly about cloud features.

With Unified Messaging being discreetly pushed
off an opportune balcony, Cloud Voicemail are likely to be providing voicemail services, making use of messages stored in the user's inbox unless users determine stick with the earlier version of Exchange. The Cloud Auto Attendant has become supported, providing an always up-to-date technique for irritating callers with interminable menus. Finally, Cloud Call Data Connector will shunt call quality data into Office 365, meaning facts doesn't have to be stored locally.

Unsurprisingly, Skype for Business 2019 can also include tools in giving users a shove within back assistance in his or her migration to the cloudy whole world of Teams.
SharePoint Server 2019

SharePoint appears to have been thoroughly beaten using the "Modern User Experience" stick as Team Sites, Pages and Lists all to get the "Modern" treatment, which Microsoft hopes will result in more appealing and simpler to navigate sites.

Libraries gets to be a OneDrive-like facelift, which means that OneDrive users if ever the experience of uploading or creating folders a little less jarring. The 10GB quality limit of SharePoint 2016 is upped to 15GB today and SharePoint 2019 is dragged kicking and screaming nowadays as the maximum URL path length jumps from 260 unicode characters to 400.

Should you be using SharePoint 2019, Microsoft is likewise happy to sell you Project Server 2019, which necessitates former platform and gets some improvements at the reporting area.
Office 2019 and beyond

Users picking out the old-fashioned perpetual licence arena of bygone days still have the option of an Office 2019 suite containing brands like Word, Excel and Powerpoint in regards to what Redmond describes as "a meaningful subset of features located in Office 365". Non-subscribers will, however, avoid seeing any the latest features in same manner as their cloudy counterparts.

During a surprise to nobody, those Office 2019 installations will likewise need Windows 10, when the server products can be used on Windows Server 2016 or 2019 (although Microsoft would obviously prefer you use the latter platform). Exchange 2019 can also take advantage of the Core Server product.

The exception is Skype for Business, which currently lists Windows Server 2016 as providing requirement. The Register has dropped Microsoft a line to take a look, since the omission of Sever 2019 is the curious one.

While Microsoft wish to state it understands that customers might prefer to stay on-premises, the wind is perhaps blowing cloudwards. Redmond said: "We must support all of our customers on their journey into your cloud, at a pace that causes the most sense in their mind," before adding ominously who's "will continue evaluating customer needs and industry trends to determine the need for future versions men and women products and services".

So, perhaps start packing your bags for Azure when you need to stay on Microsoft's server platform throughout the next decade.

* Or nephophobes, enjoy, before you "I think you'll find" us...