A generic question about Office 365

[VigneshGanesan]

I always had this question in the back of mind and often used to wonder about this a lot , so today I just decided to ask the experts about this .So here's my question , I believe that Office 365 is an evergreen platform which is not the online equivalent version of any on-premises application such as Exchange Server , SharePoint server or Skype for Business server ( meaning , Office 365 is not the online equivalent of SharePoint 2013 or Exchange 2013 or Skype for Business 2013 ) or perhaps not even SharePoint 2016, Exchange 2016 or Sfb 2016 . Please let me know if my understanding is correct or if I'm wrong please help me correct myself .Thanks in advance . 

[#2 · Accepted solution]

Interesting question, I think you are on the right track.  My understanding is most new features are born in the cloud and don't correlate with any on-premise equivalent.  Exchange Online isn't just Exchange Server 2016 with a slightly different build.  There is some crossover with features of course (and a shared codebase) but Office 365 is way ahead of what Microsoft ship to on-premise customers.  Some Office 365 features might get shipped in the next on-premise version like Exchange Server 2016 but lots of features are increasingly only available in Office 365.  One example I can think of is Focused Inbox, which only applies to Office 365 Exchange Online tenants and users.  Microsoft touched on some of these topics with this article - SharePoint Server 2016 and beyond.

[#3]

@Cian Allner....Thanks Cian

[#4]

Yes, the question is interesting. I guess the answer is yes and no, depends on what to understand under equivalent and from which point of view to consider that. Quite many end users don't see any difference after they are moved from on-premises environment to the cloud. Fro IT Pros and developers - yes, there is the difference.

On the one hand, as Cian said, cloud environment is more advanced, more integrated and has more functionality. On the other hand that could be bit less support and more surprises since not everything depends on local IT, especially if you are not on deferred channel.

[#5]

Basically cloud versions of Exchange, SharePoint and Skype for Business are going to be ahead of what we will see OnPremises. SharePoint is a clear example: we already have SharePoint Farmework for SharePoint Online, but not yet for SharePoint 2016 OnPremises (it will come in some months)

[#6]

In regards to SharePoint Online, MS has publically stated that they created SP 2016 from SPOnline. Tthere is some on-premises stuff in SP 2016 that is not in SPOnline (such as Performance Point), but in general all the new code gets deployed to online where it is tested by millions of people and then some of that code get put into the server versions for on-premises installation.

[#7]

I would also state that Office 365 is about more than just the 3 main services identified above (Exchange, SharePoint and Skype), but it's also a platform that integratese those services together with additional satellite services such as Flow, PowerApps, Planner, Yammer, Teams, etc. which will never have an on-premise "version".  Many of those services have the ability to "reach" into on-premise data, but no where on the roadmap are there on-premise versions of those services.

Like many others have said, now the release cadence for the main services are "cloud first" and will maybe make their way to on-premise depending on the integration strategy and complexity required.

And even more different is the licensing model.  For most on-premise customers, you buy server and user cals during your true-up period for an EA or Open Agreement, where in Office 365 it's all subscription.  So if you acquire a new company, hire a bunch of people or have layoffs,  you should/need to adjust your paid for licenses (especially if you need more) at the time people need to have access to those services.

At the end of the day, for IT Pro's, Office 365 is starting to let those people who have been focused on the technology for too long, refocus on the business and solve business problems (how do we get more done or streamline a specific process) rather than technology problems (e.g. What RAID level do I need to run on what supported SQL version for the platform for performance) .

[#8]

Short version...

In the beginning, there was Business Productivity Online Services, built with Exchange 2007. That product was designed for on-premises and was inflexible and poorly performing when exposed to cloud demands.

Next came the launch of Office 365 (June 2011), when the products were based on Exchange 2010, SharePoint 2010, and Lync 2010. These versions had more cloud engineering in them and the advent of PowerShell (in particular) helped Microsoft manage the cloud base.

Office 365 upgraded to the Exchange 2013, SharePoint 2013, etc.-based code in early 2014. These versions were the first to have been truly engineered for cloud platforms and included a great deal more automation (like Managed Availability).

Now Office 365 runs the Exchange 2016, SharePoint 2016, etc. code as its basic workloads. Today, not much engineering effort is expended (in percentage terms) on the on-premises products and the vast majority if not all innovation is found inside Office 365. 

What's equally important is the way that the basic products are now melded together in a way that was impossible some years ago. Exchange 2013 and SharePoint 2013 began this journey and now provide the foundation for a lot of what you see inside Office 365, including the provision of functionality to new applications like Planner, StaffHub, and Teams. 

Office 365 and the current on-premises products share a lot of functionality. The on-premises products lack some of the features available in the cloud (like Office 365 Groups) but are more flexible and customizable because they have to adapt to different customer environments. In short, they are two peas from the same pod - different but similar.