| Recently there has been a tremendous outcry in the | | | | The reasons for the removal of VBA from Mac |
| Office community swirling around the rumour that | | | | Office are irrelevant to a Windows environment. |
| Microsoft is removing Visual Basic for Applications | | | | Microsoft has stated definitively that VBA will be in |
| from future versions of Office. Business managers | | | | Office 2009 and they have no plans to remove it |
| are wondering if they should bother with Excel VBA | | | | from future versions. |
| training programs if the macro language is on its way | | | | Should VBA Be Deprecated? |
| out. | | | | There is good reason for Microsoft to consider |
| To paraphrase Mark Twain, the rumours of VBA's | | | | abandoning VBA in favour of a more secure macro |
| death have been greatly exaggerated. | | | | environment. VBA is one of the biggest security |
| Office 2008 Ships Without VBA | | | | holes in the Office suite and Microsoft is working to |
| The controversy began when the latest version of | | | | protect Office from all vulnerabilities. However the |
| the software suite for the Macintosh, Office 2008, | | | | balance between future needs and backward |
| was released without VBA support. | | | | compatibility has always been a tough decision for |
| The reasons for the change were rooted in the | | | | software developers. |
| Macintosh itself. It has always been difficult to keep | | | | Although VBA may eventually be deprecated from |
| VBA compatible with the Macintosh processors. It | | | | the Windows Office environment, that doesn't mean |
| would have required a great deal of effort to | | | | the macros well become obsolete. For example, |
| maintain support for something that is used by no | | | | Microsoft removed XLM macros in favour of VBA in |
| other application than Office. | | | | 1995 and yet they still function even in Excel 2007. |
| Instead, the Macintosh version of Office supports | | | | If Microsoft introduces a new, more secure macro |
| AppleScript for macro creation. The object models of | | | | language in Office 2009, VBA will still be an available |
| the two languages are equivalent so it is a simple | | | | tool and that means there will always be a place for |
| matter of changing syntax. However "simple" doesn't | | | | Excel VBA training in your organization. |
| mean "easy" and workbooks with large, complicated | | | | Even if your business uses only Macs, VBA is still part |
| macros are going to be difficult to upgrade. | | | | of the picture. Most organizations don't immediately |
| VBA Is Safe in Windows Office | | | | upgrade so older versions of Office are in use well |
| Recently, The Register reported that Office 2009, | | | | after they cease to be the leading edge. When you |
| the next Windows release of Office, would also not | | | | do upgrade to Office Mac 2008, you are going to |
| include VBA. This was an incorrect report and The | | | | need Excel VBA training to understand those |
| Register has since retracted the statement, but not | | | | obsolete macros so that you can rewrite them in |
| before creating an online firestorm. | | | | AppleScript. |