[boltonsoft]

The biggest reason I did not upgrade to Office 2008 was Macworld's report that Microsoft stopped supporting Excel 4 macros with this release (despite its original promise to support them in perpetuity after releasing Visual Basic for Applications). After Macworld reported this shortcoming, Microsoft was besieged with user complaints and promised to resume that support with its next release of Office for Mac. My question is: Did it?

Many years ago when I had more time on my hands, I developed a number of applications using these macros, and they ran just fine (more or less) through and including Office 2004. I'd like to upgrade to Office 2011, but since I have neither the time nor inclination to completely rewrite these apps which I use every day, I'm wondering if Microsoft kept its word. I'm not optimistic.

This post has been edited by boltonsoft: 14 April 2012 - 12:30 PM

[EGM]

I can't speak for macros as such, but I have a reasonably complex business simulation that models random demand for a TV store for 200 days, figuring profit as a function of reorder point and reorder amount, then creates a 3D surface graph of the results so you can see visually where the optimum is and what the curve looks like. The inner simulation loop uses standard Excel formulas, with control coded in VBA for Excel 2010 (Windows) because Mac Excel 2008 didn't support VBA. When Excel 2011 came along, I tried it. Other than some font size problems in parameter input forms, it worked like a charm. No functionality issues at all.

There are buttons to record and run macros in the Excel 2011 Developer ribbon, so I assume macros are there too, but I haven't used them and can't speak to their compatibility level with Excel 2004.

Do you know someone with a copy of Excel 2011? You could bring some of your workbooks with macros to him or her on a thumb drive to see what they do. If you don't know anyone like that, your local Apple dealer probably has a machine that you can play with for a bit, especially if they realize that an Office 2011 sale might hang on what happens.

This post has been edited by EGM: 17 April 2012 - 05:43 PM

[boltonsoft]

EGM, on 17 April 2012 - 05:43 PM, said:

I can't speak for macros as such, but I have a reasonably complex business simulation that models random demand for a TV store for 200 days, figuring profit as a function of reorder point and reorder amount, then creates a 3D surface graph of the results so you can see visually where the optimum is and what the curve looks like. The inner simulation loop uses standard Excel formulas, with control coded in VBA for Excel 2010 (Windows) because Mac Excel 2008 didn't support VBA. When Excel 2011 came along, I tried it. Other than some font size problems in parameter input forms, it worked like a charm. No functionality issues at all.

There are buttons to record and run macros in the Excel 2011 Developer ribbon, so I assume macros are there too, but I haven't used them and can't speak to their compatibility level with Excel 2004.

Do you know someone with a copy of Excel 2011? You could bring some of your workbooks with macros to him or her on a thumb drive to see what they do. If you don't know anyone like that, your local Apple dealer probably has a machine that you can play with for a bit, especially if they realize that an Office 2011 sale might hang on what happens.

Thanks for the response. So far, it sounds encouraging.