Monday, June 8, 2009

why did microsoft cripple office 2008?

In a move I don't comprehend, Microsoft removed Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) from Office 2008 for Mac. This is really crazy because Microsoft is Visual BASIC. But they did. Here's the snippet from the Excel 2008 help file, on the page called "Best Practices":

Avoid using AppleScript scripts and Visual Basic macros

AppleScript scripts cannot run on the Windows operating system, and Visual Basic macros cannot run in Office 2008 for Mac. If you exchange documents with someone who is working in Windows, ask that person to avoid embedding Visual Basic macros in files. You can open a file that contains a Visual Basic macro, but you cannot run, view, or edit the macro. For more information, see My Visual Basic macros don't work.

So. Microsoft says that the best practice for using Excel is not to use any macros. Really? This is like the car salesman who tells you the best practice is not to use cruise control or to put the car in neutral and use the parking brake rather than using P.

avoid using excel?

And don't you love the advice? "Ask that person to avoid embedding Visual Basic macros in files." And you should probably say, "Please." And then you can explain to them how they don't need a macro anyway.

Maybe this is an extension of Microsoft's vision to move everyone from VBA to VB.NET scripting. Not sure, but by the lameness of their "best practices" advice it seems like abandonment not succession.

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