Announcing the retirement for Office Online Server

Retiring Office Online Server by 12/31/2026 is a mistake — and there is a better path.

Ending support for Office Online Server (OOS) pushes everyone to Microsoft 365/Office for the Web and leaves on-prem customers (regulatory, data-sovereignty, disconnected) without a supported way to preview, edit, and co-author documents locally. There are concrete impacts already called out, such as Excel workbooks hosted in Power BI Report Server losing support. On the proposed timeline, many critical SharePoint/Exchange or air-gapped farms won’t migrate safely; the likely outcome is running OOS unsupported, which increases security risk — the opposite of the stated goal.

Extend OOS support by 3–5 years (e.g., to 2030/2031) under a security-only LTS track with fixes only.
Provide a containerized OOS LTS image suitable for disconnected environments with predictable patching.
Ship an official on-prem “Viewer” (preview and conversion) for SharePoint/Exchange SE to preserve search previews and document viewing.
For customers who can use cloud, deliver a supported hybrid connector to render via Office for the Web with strong compliance controls (proxy, cache, ADFS/Entra ID, auditing).
Licensing transparency: if OOS functionality is removed from on-prem offerings, align pricing accordingly (Office LTSC/SharePoint CAL).

The timeline is too short for critical and constrained workloads; removing OOS now degrades productivity and pushes customers into unsupported operation.
OOS is not optional: it enables browser previews, editing, and co-authoring on-prem; cloud “alternatives” do not help those who must remain disconnected.
Specific scenarios break (for example, Excel in Power BI Report Server) with no functional equivalent in isolated environments.

PS: Modernization is welcome; abandoning on-prem isn’t. A secure LTS track plus a supported hybrid bridge maintains trust, reduces risk, and provides a realistic runway to migrate.

Even Bill Gates would agree with me.