Excel VBA: Mac Inferior to Windows

[dpaartlwtaut]

I've noticed a few articles posted thus far comparing Mac to Windows in
terms of performance, but I must say, there is absolutely no
comparison.

1. The speed. Running a macro is in Excel for Mac is significantly
slower. I don't have the quantifiable numbers that previous messages
have documented, but it is significant in all aspects, not just a few
commands here and there.

2. Stability. Being a frequent VBA programmer in Windows, I have been
dismayed as to how often VBA crashses on the Mac.

3. Missing Features. VBA on the Mac is not just inferior, it is
unequal. There are many differences between the two platforms in ways
that consistently favor Windows

3a. Pop up values while debugging. In windows, putting arrow over a
variable while debugging the code displays above the variable what it's
current value is.

3b. Watch Window. Missing in the Mac version

3c. Drag-sizable forms. The only way to change the size of forms on
the Mac is to change the Width, Height, Left, Top, etc. properties

3d. Auto complete when typing code. In Windows, when you are writing
the code, and you type the name of an object, the moment you hit the
period ".", a drop down list appears of all the available properties
and methods that are available for that object.

These are the first things that come to mind. If I really wanted to
make a treatse out of it, I'm sure I could come up with many more.

This comment is part just venting, because it distresses me to see a
case where Apple truly is inferior to Windows (I've been a long-time
Mac supporter!). But more importantly, two questions to Microsoft for
Mac representatives:

There must be an awareness of the inferiority of your product compared
to the Windows version. From what I have seen of Excel '04, these
issues weren't addressed (otherwise I would have bought it and I
wouldn't be writing this). Can you explain why these descrepancies
exist? Is there any plan to make your product up to par any time in
the future?

Regards,
Dan

(I run a iMac 17" Flatscreen, 512 MB Ram, OS 10.4.1. MS Office X with
Service Release 1)

 

[Socrates]

Your comments are not a surprise.

Historically, Windoze machines have out-performed Macs with apps such
as large databases and spread-sheets. On the flip side, Macs have been
superior with graphics, sound, and (now) photography and movies.

PS - 512M RAM is sufficient but on the low side.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

There must be an awareness of the inferiority of your product compared
to the Windows version. From what I have seen of Excel '04, these
issues weren't addressed (otherwise I would have bought it and I
wouldn't be writing this). Can you explain why these descrepancies
exist? Is there any plan to make your product up to par any time in
the future?

I'm not a Microsoft employee so I can't speak to "(my) product)", but I
can say a few things about the items you mentioned. Any predictions are
guesses on my part:

First, VBA is a dead language walking. MS isn't investing in it for
either Win or Mac platforms. Win will be going to .Net in some future
version, while we'll have to see about Mac. MacBU (the MS Mac Business
Unit, who develops MacOffice) has just put a tremendous effort into
making MacOffice AppleScriptable, largely on the VBA framework. I
suspect any change in the future will want to retain that scriptability.

Second, MacBU is fairly autonomous. They have to keep basic functions,
of course, but they're free to pursue their market. My guess is that
their projections of additional units of MacOffice sold if VBA and the
VBE were improved wouldn't come close to covering the cost of
development.

VBA for MacOffice (all versions) is 5.00, so VBA 6.x-only features are
not supported (though for new functions, it's pretty easy to write
replacement code). There is, IMO, *no* chance that Mac VBA will go to
version 6.

Macros do tend to be slower in MacOffice, though I find occasional
methods where MacOffice is faster. I find this in many apps, though. OS
X isn't tuned for data crunching. Even when I renice XL to -20, it
regularly gets less than half the CPU time, even when XL has focus. I
don't know to what extent, if any, MS can fix this. Also, 512 MB RAM may
or may not be adequate, depending on what else you're running. With my
usual assortment, I typically have less than 400MB of my 1GB free. Page
swaps will kill any performance.

The MacOffice VBE *is* primitive compared to the Win version. It won't
be updated, unless as part of a general move to some other scripting
language.

I haven't seen the crashing in MacVBA, but I've also been using Office
2004 for 20 months or so, and there were some improvements (and some new
bugs).