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ZDNET Highlights
- The Office suite has not been rebranded to Microsoft 365 Copilot.
- The web-based version was renamed Microsoft 365 in 2022.
- Microsoft still has a bad reputation when it comes to naming and renaming its products.
Microsoft has a bad reputation when it comes to naming its products and services. Sometimes a company chooses a name for a product and then changes it. Other times, it will use the same name or similar names for different products. The names themselves can be confusing and unwieldy. All this explains why many people have jumped to conclusions over the alleged renaming of Microsoft Office.
Recent posts on sites like x, redditAnd hacker news Microsoft has changed the name of its familiar Office product to Microsoft 365 Copilot, as reported The VergeAlthough posters are flawed, it is quite easy to make a mistake, And that’s largely Microsoft’s own fault,
Also: Gemini vs Copilot: I compared AI tools on 7 everyday tasks, and there’s a clear winner
Product page for Microsoft 365 Copilot app Simply states the following: “Microsoft 365 Copilot apps (formerly Office) let you create, share, and collaborate in one place with your favorite apps, now including Copilot.” While most people probably assume that Office refers to the popular software suite, the implication here is that the Office name has been replaced by an AI-infused brand. but it’s not like that.
The office mentioned on the product page is actually website Through which you can access free web versions of all the main programs. That site also announces: “Get free access to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint using Microsoft 365 for web (formerly Office).”
It gets more and more confusing
Like other Microsoft products, Office went through a rebranding, but this happened a few years ago. In 2022, Microsoft renamed Office to Microsoft 365. The idea was to market the suite as a cloud-based product rather than just a desktop productivity program. The company also wanted to differentiate subscription-based and web-based products from their desktop counterpart.
Also: Is ChatGPT Plus Worth Your $20? Here’s how it compares to the free and pro plans
To further add to the confusion, Microsoft added Copilot to Microsoft 365 in 2024. That move also increased the price of Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions. Microsoft ultimately botched the entire process, causing further confusion among its users.
However, in line with that move, the company Microsoft 365 rebranded to Microsoft 365 Copilot In early 2025. however, Product pages for the three main consumer subscriptions They are still referred to as Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, and Premium, with no Copilot as part of the name. So now who can say what the official name is?
But wait, there’s more confusion. The Office name still exists, although it strictly refers to the one-time-purchase desktop version with the latest iteration. Microsoft Office 2024Microsoft 365 or Microsoft 365 Copilot refers to the subscription and web versions with OneDrive, Teams, and other tools,
Also: Microsoft 365 Copilot launch was a complete failure
And if you want even more confusion, there is a separate product called Microsoft 365 CopilotAnother version of the free Copilot chatbot, it comes with Microsoft 365 and is designed to help you deal with tasks in the workplace,
Perhaps there is some internal logic within Microsoft that explains its constantly changing and complex naming conventions. As for me, I’m starting to get a headache now thinking about all this.
