Excel loses VBA support
Just thought I'd post this as a separate topic since without a doubt Excel has been one part of office that is irreplaceable for a lot of people further more VBA support is extensively used in many areas. From my local dressage club, to work, to my accounting spreadsheets and large financial analyst institutions I have seen VBA in excel used everywhere and it is now officially axed for the next version of office on the Mac.
Am I the only person who thinks this will hurt Apple? Admittedly you can still load it through virtualisation but that's all extra cost so this has to hurt. Thoughts?
Quote:
Virtual PC isn?t the only Microsoft technology getting the axe ? Microsoft also indicates that it is discontinuing support of Visual Basic scripting in the next version of Office for Mac
Virtual PC isn?t the only Microsoft technology getting the axe ? Microsoft also indicates that it is discontinuing support of Visual Basic scripting in the next version of Office for Mac
Am I the only person who thinks this will hurt Apple? Admittedly you can still load it through virtualisation but that's all extra cost so this has to hurt. Thoughts?
Comments
Never used it. AppleScript all the way. VB only controls MS apps. AppleScript can control many more as well as the Office apps.
Applescript also isn't cross platform and Office, like it or not, is basically a standard in workflow in many areas.
Never used it. AppleScript all the way. VB only controls MS apps. AppleScript can control many more as well as the Office apps.
Trust me when I say this SUCKS....
"AppleScript all the way" is kinda cute in a "I'm an Apple Purest" kinda way but when it comes to Apple getting along in the business world where MS owns 110% of the market this (as I said above) sucks and I have no doubt reprisal for Apples attacks on MS... Very sad and VERY bad news for Apple.
D
Just thought I'd post this as a separate topic since without a doubt Excel has been one part of office that is irreplaceable for a lot of people further more VBA support is extensively used in many areas. From my local dressage club, to work, to my accounting spreadsheets and large financial analyst institutions I have seen VBA in excel used everywhere and it is now officially axed for the next version of office on the Mac.
Am I the only person who thinks this will hurt Apple? Admittedly you can still load it through virtualisation but that's all extra cost so this has to hurt. Thoughts?
As a Product Engineer who has coded many data reduction and analysis programs with Excel VBA on my mac, this stinks. What the heck is the point of getting the mac version? I guess this could be a sign that the mac OSX intel version may not happen because you could just run it in windows...
- Mark
Are they taking VBA out of the Windows Office also? If not, let them run VBA on that.
Oh and let the IT department heads everywhere ban the use of Mac OS X based systems (running Office for the Mac) from running in their 'perfect environment'? Excel is (and has been) a LOT more than =sum(a1:a99) and now everyone in the real world (using a Mac) is going to feel it.
Oh and it's not limited to Excel... VBA (had) run throughout the MS Office environment and now that's dead. Make light of it if you will but this is a MAJOR blow... they might as well have announced the discontinuation of MS Office for the Mac. This is tantamount to the same thing.
D
Are they taking VBA out of the Windows Office also? If not, let them run VBA on that.
While they are at it they can run it on their non-apple branded computer on their copy of windows
Although you don't use it you'd be surprised just how widely VBA is used. It is very good for automation and presentation. I could design models and put a UI on it so even people with no idea could get the results they needed out. University science labs will be particularly effected. Macs are very well accepted in biological sciences and now all of them that use VBA, which will be a lot, won't have it available for their next round of purchases. So will they purchase macs again and add the cost of virtualisation and windows or will they just consider some more windows PCs and phase out the Macs?
My local dressage club uses it extensively for competitions to manage the data as the process is the same for each competition. For their next purchase they were going to switch to macs, it is very unlikely they now will. They could switch over to macs and recode everything in Applescript but before they could have just used the same file on either platform.
Gone are the days when I could use OS X for the vast majority of my work and only boot windows for the rare specialised app that I use. Now windows would be a daily load for me and suddenly the mac is considerably less attractive than it was 24 hours ago and I'm certain I wouldn't be alone.
Windows users should rejoice - no more VBA macro viruses sent over by their Mac colleagues.
I can't see Microsoft just dropping the ability to script the Office apps, especially when they are trying to make it so you can use Office as a "development platform". I do not doubt VBA (legacy code) will get dropped but they will have to replace it with something and since Microsoft is pushing .net then maybe they will create an MacOffice.net scripting framework.
This is precisely what they are saying they won't do. With the move to the new file formats and VSTA (Visual Studio Toolbox for Apps I think it stands for) they will be changing VBA in Office. Basically it is receiving a refresh. They will not be adding this to the Mac version. As such Office for the mac will no longer be able to utilise or write scripted files that can be used on PCs. Microsoft has clearly stated macros from PCs will no longer work or be accessible on Macs by default and add ons are not what people like. Cross compatibility is now dead in many fields. Excel is perhaps the single app that makes Office irreplaceable in many fields and Microsoft has now made a key feature unavailable for the mac.
Just thought I'd post this as a separate topic since without a doubt Excel has been one part of office that is irreplaceable for a lot of people further more VBA support is extensively used in many areas. From my local dressage club, to work, to my accounting spreadsheets and large financial analyst institutions I have seen VBA in excel used everywhere and it is now officially axed for the next version of office on the Mac.
Am I the only person who thinks this will hurt Apple? Admittedly you can still load it through virtualisation but that's all extra cost so this has to hurt. Thoughts?
It would/will hurt them(Apple) in the long run if no counter measures are taken:
-) They could pressure MS into not dropping VBA(how?).
-) They could introduce a spreadsheet app themselves,capable of working with VBA.
-) They could license/integrate parts of Real Basic,at least leverage their know-how.
-) They could push Open Office; it has gotten much better,but would require to be aquafied on the Mac side.
The key Mac OOfice people have recently been issued with Intel IMacs,so I do believe there could be interest from Apple.
One less avenue for viruses to hit my Mac. (and a common one at that.)
Thank you Microsoft. (Seriously.)
I don't think this is going to impact mac sales. Probably the majority of macs are bought without consideration that Office exists for it. I'm still a little perplexed at why anyone actually needs Office. Let's face it: no one needs Word. Word does nothing impressive or unique. Powerpoint has been largely replaced by the PDF, One-note is superflouous at the core, Access is a nice-to-have (but that's it), and Excel is the only reason why anyone might consider Office. So I guess that when people say "Office" they really mean "Excel." The fact that Excel lost VBA is unfortunate, I suppose, but I can't say that my forays into VBA have been able to uncover the kind of capabilities that would have made it truly useful. I am the only person I've ever seen use VBA for Excel, and that was mostly because I was curious. For 99% of mac users (if not 100%), losing VBA will be a non-issue.
MSOffice on the mac provides interoperability with the rest of the business world. It was already so-so with the lack of outlook. Now without VBA a lot of corporate forms done in Excel will stop working.
That you never used VBA is immaterial to those of us that actually use Macs in the corporate environment.
Vinea
PS One Note is nice...but then I have a tablet.
I don't think this is going to impact mac sales. Probably the majority of macs are bought without consideration that Office exists for it. I'm still a little perplexed at why anyone actually needs Office. Let's face it: no one needs Word. Word does nothing impressive or unique. Powerpoint has been largely replaced by the PDF, One-note is superflouous at the core, Access is a nice-to-have (but that's it), and Excel is the only reason why anyone might consider Office. So I guess that when people say "Office" they really mean "Excel." The fact that Excel lost VBA is unfortunate, I suppose, but I can't say that my forays into VBA have been able to uncover the kind of capabilities that would have made it truly useful. I am the only person I've ever seen use VBA for Excel, and that was mostly because I was curious. For 99% of mac users (if not 100%), losing VBA will be a non-issue.
I agree that as products MS office is underwhelming. But they are de-facto standards in general use. Example, all article submitted for publication in my professions journal must be submitted in Word. When people exchange data it is almost always in an Excel document. Some financial data can be exchanged in Quickbooks (small busines users) but really Word and Excel are ubiqiutious in everyday use. That is a obstacle that is hard to overcome.