Office 2008

[Ed]

I plan to install Office 2008 shortly. But, I also will need to
continue to use Excel 2004, given the much discussed shortcomings of
Excel 2008 resulting from Microsoft's decision to no longer support
Virtual Basic (I need the Data Analysis ToolPak and Solver). (I've
used every version of Mac Excel since I was a beta-tester of the pre-
launch version in 1984. I've also ungraded as soon as new versions
came out. Excel 2008 sounds like a major step backward.)

Can I install Office 2008 without over-writing Excel 2004 and the
other Office 2004 programs?

Is there any hope Microsoft will restore VB? Yes, I've sent emails to
Microsoft requesting this.

Thanks,

Ed

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Can I install Office 2008 without over-writing Excel 2004 and the
other Office 2004 programs?
Yes

Is there any hope Microsoft will restore VB? Yes, I've sent emails to
Microsoft requesting this.

One can always hope. Give that MS is trying to get rid of VBA on the Win
side, *my* main hope is that the substantial resources needed to bring
VBA back don't lead to an inability to implement VBA's successor. I'd
rather see VBA permanently abandoned for one version cycle than endless
cycles of incompatibility.

 

[Ed]

Yes, but I also don't want to see a reduction on functionality on the
Mac side of Excel. Similarly I want Max Excel to have all the features
as Windows Excel. As you know, features like pivot tables are more
robust under Windows.

I've been using Excel to teach Statistics and to perform basic
statistical analysis. That becomes more difficult with Excel 2008.
Maybe it is time to upgrade to SPSS.

In the meantime, is it possible to keep Excel 2004 when I install
office 2008?

Ed

 

[JE McGimpsey]

In the meantime, is it possible to keep Excel 2004 when I install
office 2008?

As in my previous answer, yes.

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

One can always hope. Give that MS is trying to get rid of VBA on the Win
side, *my* main hope is that the substantial resources needed to bring
VBA back don't lead to an inability to implement VBA's successor. I'd
rather see VBA permanently abandoned for one version cycle than endless
cycles of incompatibility.

Hi John,

There are hundreds of thousands if not millions of documents that can't be
used if there's no VBA for backwards compatibility, so Microsoft needs to
restore VBA anyway. I don't see any chance of windows office losing VBA.
It's tied too tightly to Excel and Access. Not that they won't try.

-Jim

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info

 

[JE McGimpsey]

There are hundreds of thousands if not millions of documents that can't be
used if there's no VBA for backwards compatibility, so Microsoft needs to
restore VBA anyway. I don't see any chance of windows office losing VBA.
It's tied too tightly to Excel and Access. Not that they won't try.

I see them trying to work it like XLM or WordBasic - leave the
compiler/run-time in so everything still runs, but make it difficult to
create new (i.e., no recording, no Help, remove or cripple the VBE).

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Quoting from "JE McGimpsey" <[email protected]>, in article
(e-mail address removed), on [DATE:

tied too tightly to Excel and Access. Not that they won't try.

I see them trying to work it like XLM or WordBasic - leave the
compiler/run-time in so everything still runs, but make it difficult to
create new (i.e., no recording, no Help, remove or cripple the VBE).

The way Micrsoft explained it, the compiler is the hold-up. The VBE and help
don't need to change so they don't need to go away. Maybe they need 2
compilers now that it's a dual binary.

-Jim


--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info