Solver in Excel 2008?

In article <ee88ac9.68.TakeThisOut@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw>,
"Mohammed Iqbal" <iqbalm0629.TakeThisOut@gmail.com> wrote:

> Unbelievable! Solver along with other data analysis tools compromised about
> 80% of what I use Excel for. Very disappointed.

Just a repeat for those who missed it before:

There is a cheap and dirty (freeware) solver out there:

http://www.kaleberg.com/software/equato/index.html

Otherwise, it's the zillion-dollar TK!Solver
(doesn't support MacOS :-( )

--
Team EM to the rescue! http://www.team-em.com
 >> Stay informed about: Solver in Excel 2008? 

In article <ee88ac9.68 DeleteThis @webcrossing.caR9absDaxw>,
"Mohammed Iqbal" <iqbalm0629 DeleteThis @gmail.com> wrote:

> Unbelievable! Solver along with other data analysis tools compromised about
> 80% of what I use Excel for. Very disappointed.

Also, aside from the solver, many of the data analysis tools can be
written into the spreadsheet w/ formulas.


With my usual disclaimer that nobody should be using Excel to do data
analysis or any other "real" math,

you can get a number of stats tools, including anova and a histogram
generator, at the OATBRAN project, whose URL I sadly have forgotten.
(I've got a new and improved version of the histgram tool, available in
"beta test" to anyone who emails me to request it)

And general polynomial, exponential, and log curve fitting is easily
done using LINEST and LOGEST.

--
Team EM to the rescue! http://www.team-em.com
 >> Stay informed about: Solver in Excel 2008? 

Carl Witthoft <carl RemoveThis @witthoft.com> wrote:

> you can get a number of stats tools, including anova and a histogram
> generator, at the OATBRAN project, whose URL I sadly have forgotten.

http://www.coventry.ac.uk/ec/~nhunt/oatbran/

--
HB
 >> Stay informed about: Solver in Excel 2008? 

> Hi, I just cranked up the student edition of Office 2008 and can't find the solver in excel or in any documentation. Please tell me solver was included, I need it for classes!

I am also desperately searching for the SOLVER in Excel of MS Office2008. Any way to get it installed?

Heinz
 >> Stay informed about: Solver in Excel 2008? 

In article <ee88ac9.73 RemoveThis @webcrossing.caR9absDaxw>,
"Znieh Keleiban" <zniehkeleiban RemoveThis @mac.com> wrote:

> I am also desperately searching for the SOLVER in Excel of MS Office2008. Any
> way to get it installed?

Not currently - it just doesn't work with XL08.
 >> Stay informed about: Solver in Excel 2008? 

A casualty of killing VBA in Mac version of Office.

JE McGimpsey wrote:
> In article <ee88ac9.73.TakeThisOut@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw>,
> "Znieh Keleiban" <zniehkeleiban.TakeThisOut@mac.com> wrote:
>
>> I am also desperately searching for the SOLVER in Excel of MS Office2008. Any
>> way to get it installed?
>
> Not currently - it just doesn't work with XL08.

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 >> Stay informed about: Solver in Excel 2008? 

In article <ee88ac9.73 RemoveThis @webcrossing.caR9absDaxw>,
"Znieh Keleiban" <zniehkeleiban RemoveThis @mac.com> wrote:

> > Hi, I just cranked up the student edition of Office 2008 and can't find the
> > solver in excel or in any documentation. Please tell me solver was
> > included, I need it for classes!
>
> I am also desperately searching for the SOLVER in Excel of MS Office2008. Any
> way to get it installed?
>
> Heinz

As others noted, it's not there any more.

In the meantime, try Equato for indirect solving. It's a freeware
standalone app.

--
Team EM to the rescue! http://www.team-em.com
 >> Stay informed about: Solver in Excel 2008? 

As far as I am aware the Excel Solver is not written by Microsoft. It is written by Frontline Systems, and is actually a "lite" version of their more powerful solvers.

So what I think may be the problem is that the code for Solver is not owned by Microsoft. Certainly on both Windows and Mac, the Solver code is entirely contained in an .xla addin and a shared library. No part of the Solver code resides in the Excel executable or Office libraries.

Therefore creating a Solver for Office 2008 will likely require cooperation from Frontline Systems, or a complete implementation of VBA. The latter has already been dismissed by the MacBU.

I am not trying to excuse MS at all on this, I am just trying to add some (hopefully) useful background. I am just as frustrated as everyone else about the functionality dropped when 'upgrading'. I have realized Excel 2008 is not going to be a work platform I can use anymore. Not only was I a heavy Solver user, I also frequently scripted the Solver with VBA! Rather than switch to Windows I am moving most of my code to Matlab.
 >> Stay informed about: Solver in Excel 2008? 

I can not believe MS shipped this puppy without Solver. Reading these posts have just got my blood up. I work at a University with a bunch of Mac users wanting to know if they should upgrade and frankly I'm going to tell them to stay with Office 2004 UNTIL THIS IS FIXED. Sorry, this is inexcusable. Did you guys learn anything from the lawsuit in Europe? We're the reason the DOJ hasn't come down on you like a ton of bricks and made the Office group a separate product line from the OS line.
If this is what loyalty to MS buys, maybe I've got to look at open source a lot harder - hear that Mr. Bill?
 >> Stay informed about: Solver in Excel 2008? 

In article <ee88ac9.78 DeleteThis @webcrossing.caR9absDaxw>,
"ACHP Phil Hammond - MCSA" <phillip.hammond DeleteThis @unh.edu> wrote:

> hear that Mr. Bill?

Not likely - we're mostly just users here...
 >> Stay informed about: Solver in Excel 2008? 

I am in shock. This should have been printed on the outside of the box. I have built hundreds of models for clients that implement a piece of code using VBA. Now it is hosed up. AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH. :angry:
 >> Stay informed about: Solver in Excel 2008? 

On 4/3/08 6:38 AM, in article ee88ac9.80.DeleteThis@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw,
"Barry.Ezell@officeformac.com" <Barry.Ezell.DeleteThis@officeformac.com> wrote:

> I am in shock. This should have been printed on the outside of the box. I have
> built hundreds of models for clients that implement a piece of code using VBA.
> Now it is hosed up. AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH. :angry:
While not printed on the box, MS has made no secret, and indeed has widely
published that VBA would not be available with Office 2008. You need to
express your concerns via send feedback in the help menu.

--
Bob Greenblatt [MVP], Macintosh
bobgreenblattATmsnDOTcom
 >> Stay informed about: Solver in Excel 2008? 

> In article ,
> "ACHP Phil Hammond - MCSA" wrote:
>
> > hear that Mr. Bill?
>
> Not likely - we're mostly just users here...
>
JE,
I did suspect that and figure I'm venting to the choir. BUT, I suspect folks up top lurk on the list too. If the MacBU team shipped Office 2008 minus the VBA support, minus the goodies in Excel like Solver, but with some "make pretty" additions to the interface then this starts ranking up there with Windows Millennium Edition (we need a new version for Christmas to increase the cash flow Windows). I could/can wait another year if a real upgrade came out to Office for the Mac. I live in both worlds, teach in both worlds and don't fear the ribbon anymore (though question it's existence at times). But I do like the Mac best - there I've said it.

Still for the younger ones posting here, I want to point out that Solver wasn't just a pretty toy thrown in the box to make special kids happy at Christmas. We remember the Lotus/Excel wars. We remember Back-Solver. That was Lotus's opening shot in data modeling and Microsoft had to answer back or lose a lot of business in the real money pit (aka Windows). A lot of business people and research people started taking Excel seriously after Solver showed up around here. The tide shifted about that point and for all of Office's other problems, Microsoft started to win that battle. And they already had the Mac pretty much to themselves. Thanks to us.

Yes, I'm that old friends, I remember Lotus, Harvard Graphics, CPM, Multiplan (my first Spreadsheet), VisiCalc, SuperCalc, Quatro-Pro.... Heck I've run Lotus 3 on VMS and Multiplan on a C64 (as well as CPM, DOS and Windows). And Excel 1.0 up on to now (sorry, no early release there).

But I also remember that Excel won it's top dog status because in part because it became a real tool when Solver showed up. And that it's now missing in Excel 2008 shows how far down the pole Microsoft rates the user needs of the Mac community have gone. Dust off the abacus friends. We just need simple math on our Macs I guess.

Or buy Parallels so you can run the REAL version of Excel on your Mac....
PH - MCSA, ACHS, CNA (love those letters)
PS
Mr. Greenblatt - Microsoft may have not hidden the fact VBA would be missing. But it's big difference in impact not having macros (which hurts too) and not having Analytical tools that have come with a program you rely on since version 3? maybe version 2? That's breaking a trust - and Microsoft was REAL quiet about that. Not even MacWorld noticed it in their review.
 >> Stay informed about: Solver in Excel 2008?