OneDrive and Skype access

In an update to Microsoft’s Office 365 system requirements released. Microsoft said that consumers who have already purchased “perpetual”—i.e., standalone—versions of Office, such as Office 2010, Office 2013, and Office 2016, would be cut off from accessing the business versions of OneDrive and Skype after mainstream support expires. Those who have purchased those Office suites will be allowed to connect until Oct. 13, 2020—the day mainstream support ends for Office 2016, and the day the new support policy kicks in.

Independent business users and small business owners who bought into Microsoft’s vision but powered their businesses via a standalone version of Office may feel jilted. If you’ve been saving all of your Excel speadsheets into your OneDrive for Business cloud, you’ll need to download them to your computer or get an Office 365 subscription, as Microsoft really wants you to do.