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Microsoft Office Update, and Visual Basic for Applications to Return [Update]

Microsoft announced today record sales of Mac Office 2008 which was launched at Macworld San Francisco:

"The response has been amazing; since we launched in January, the velocity of sales for Office 2008 is nearly three times what we saw after the launch of Office 2004," said Craig Eisler, general manager of the Mac BU at Microsoft. "As we set our course for future versions, we are working closely with customers and will also expand our staff to ensure that Office for Mac remains the most powerful and compatible productivity suite for Mac customers."


Microsoft also released the first Service Pack (SP1) for Mac Office 2008 which provides stability, security and performance enhancements. The update will be available at at Microsoft.com or via your Office software update. A list of fixes are provided in the press release.

Also notable is that Microsoft has announced that they will be bringing back Visual Basic for Applications in the next version of Mac Office:

...the team recognizes that VBA-language support is important to a select group of customers who rely on sharing macros across platforms. The Mac BU is always working to meet customers' needs and already is hard at work on the next version of Office for Mac.

Update: Microsoft Office 2008 SP1 is now available via Microsoft's website.

Troubleshooting: Tip for users with problems:

Some users who have installed Office 2008 for Mac Service Pack 1 are reporting an issue that occurs after installation. The issue causes the Office Setup Assistant to open when they try to open an Office application. This situation occurs when the Office Setup Assistant detects that an invalid Product Key was used to install Office 2008. [ Read More ]

Top Rated Comments

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49 months ago
so, i guess i'm just skipping a version until the next version of Office. 2004 will do for now.

Glad they're bringing back VBA support.
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49 months ago
Keep the updates coming - Office 2008 ought to be more optimized for Leopard than it is.
Would like to see snappier performance overall.
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49 months ago
Oh thank goodness they're bringing back VBA. Now I might be able to run Solver again! :D
Rating: 0 Positives / 0 Negatives
49 months ago
I think Office 2008 is a pretty decent product (for coming from microsoft :) ), but I'm glad that they're releasing somewhat frequent updates, AND are listening to users about what features to add in and work on. They're not ALL evil...
Rating: 0 Positives / 0 Negatives
49 months ago
I dont get it, both MR and Macworld are reporting that the SP1 update is now available via MS's site or SU but i've been checking both mediums for the last 5 hrs and still cant find the update.

Where is it? :confused:
Rating: 0 Positives / 0 Negatives
49 months ago

I dont get it, both MR and Macworld are reporting that the SP1 update is now available via MS's site or SU but i've been checking both mediums for the last 5 hrs and still cant find the update.


I noticed that also. Someone needs to get their facts straight.
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49 months ago
Putting visual basic back in is a very good move. I never could figure out why they removed it. There are many businesses and people who have extensive amounts of macros that they use on a day-to-day basis and suddenly dropping this feature was a really bad move IMHO. Too bad they aren't adding it back in a service pack. Instead we have to wait until Office 2012 :rolleyes:
Rating: 0 Positives / 0 Negatives
49 months ago
Microsoft should be congratulated for doing the write thing with regards to VBA scripting, which was a massive error. I wish that the fix will come soon and not in Office 2012 though.
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49 months ago
So this probably means that VBA will stay in future versions of Office on the Windows platform. Microsoft realizes that VBA isn't just for developing viruses.
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49 months ago
I like their business plan.

1) Remove critical feature as if it's never coming back
2) Get people to upgrade for some other feature
3) Announce that users can get critical feature back in a year or two for only $200 (or whatever)!
4) ???
5) profit?
6) repeat
Rating: 0 Positives / 0 Negatives

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