Last month, I posted to Mac Mojo about Solver and Excel 2008, where I explained that the Excel team was working hard to bring Solver functionality back for Office 2008 customers.
Today, I am delighted to announce that Solver is definitely coming back to Excel 2008. This is very, very, very good news for anyone that uses Excel for linear programming or nonlinear optimization problems (Mac-using MBA students, I'm looking at you...).
Here are the three things you should know:
Solver for Excel 2008 will be free.
Solver for Excel 2008 will be available as a download from the Web site of Frontline Systems (www.solver.com/mac).
Solver for Excel 2008 will be available by mid-September (just in time for back to school!).
So how was this accomplished, and how does it work?
Technical Approach Developing a Solver for Excel 2008 presented some interesting technical challenges. In Excel 2004, Solver relies on Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) to function. Since VBA is not a part of Office 2008, we had to find a way of identifying those areas that needed VBA and replacing them with something equivalent.
Many people don't realize this, but Solver is not actually a Microsoft product. Rather, the Solver code is owned and developed by a Nevada firm called Frontline Systems. Frontline creates and sells a line of industrial-strength Solver products that are used in commercial and government settings. Their basic, free version of Solver has shipped with Excel for many, many years.
Frontline are the most knowledgeable people on the planet when it comes to Solver, and, once MacBU began hearing from customers about Solver's absence, we began working with Frontline to figure out how to solve the problem (pardon the pun).
The final solution was to package up Solver's functionality into its own Mac OS X application, Solver.app, and then use AppleScript to communicate between Solver and Excel. This approach is simple, elegant, uses proven Apple technologies, and results in an experience that is very, very similar to that of using Solver in Excel 2004.
(It's also worth pointing out that this approach required us to 'eat our own dogfood' - Solver was developed using the same AppleScript techniques we recommend for other developers who want to build on top of Office 2008.)
How It Works We have attempted to make the process of obtaining and using Solver as simple as possible.
Obtaining Solver The process of downloading Solver is (eerily!) similar to the process for getting any other Mac software off the Internet:
Download Solver for Excel 2008 from the Frontline Web site.
Unpack Solver by double-clicking it.
Move the unpacked Solver.app to your /Applications folder (or to any other folder you like).
If you plan to use Solver a lot, drag the icon to your Dock.
That's it! You're all installed.
Using Solver Once Solver is on your machine, it's ready to start working with Excel. To use Solver:
Launch Excel 2008.
Build (or load) the workbook with your Solver model.
Click the Solver icon in your Dock (or double-click the Solver icon in your /Applications folder). Solver will open (see Figure 1).
At this point, you use Solver much as always - by selecting cells and ranges in Excel to serve as constraints or targets, setting your options for the model, and then clicking 'Solve'. Solver will attempt to solve the model and will let you know if it finds a solution.
Figure 1 - Solver.app Running On Mac OS X
Next Steps As mentioned, above, Solver will be available as a free download from Frontline's Web site by mid-September.
We will put up a notice right here on Mac Mojo when the bits are available for download; if you read Mac Mojo through RSS, you'll be notified very quickly (and if you don't get Mojo through RSS, why not? Try Safari or NetNewsWire for a great RSS experience). Frontline will also have an announcement on their Web site.
I'd like to close on a personal note. One of the first things I learned first-hand at Microsoft is that software is a team sport: nothing happens in this business unless a lot of good people, each with their own unique talents, work very hard to make it happen. This project (especially coming together as quickly as it did) was no exception. In addition to the thanks owed to my colleagues in Excel, all of us here at MacBU owe a huge "THANK YOU" to our friends at Frontline Systems, who were above-and-beyond professional, responsive, and just plain wonderful to work with.
So: Solver. Free download. Mid-September. Watch this space for details.
Keep up the good work... and I think everyone appreciates getting updates like this. It helps to know when something is coming, AND how it will work when it's ready.
This was definitely handled much better than other previous updates.
Thanks,
//john
carrollw
Jul 28, 2008
5:37pm
Curious terminology
Appreciate bringing back the functionality and what appears to be a creative workaround the VBA issue.
But " ... eat our own dogfood"????
I've never heard this expression before, but even if I had, I think it might not be the most effective messaging.
Perhaps "eat our own cooking?" or "eat what we kill" or "put our money where our mouth is" or just about anything that doesn't imply that your product is in any way comparable to dog food.
I apologize if the "dogfood" phrase threw you for a loop; it's been around the halls here at Microsoft forever. There's actually a good Wikipedia article on the history of the phrase:
"The idea originated in television commercials for Alpo brand dog food; actor Lorne Greene would tout the benefits of the dog food, and then would say it's so good that he feeds it to his own dogs. In 1988, Microsoft manager Paul Maritz sent Brian Valentine, test manager for Microsoft LAN Manager, an email titled "Eating our own Dogfood" challenging him to increase internal usage of the product..."
I'll try to keep the internal jargon out of my future Mojo posts. <grin>
Noryb
Jul 28, 2008
5:37pm
Start
Rather than having people search through their Applications folder for Solver.app, or clutter their dock with it, I'd suggest adding it to the AppleScript menu.
Create a script something like this:
tell application "Solver"
try
with timeout of 0.1 seconds
activate
end timeout
end try
end tell
(This may not be the best way to do it...the try/timeout stuff is just to prevent things from blocking while the app is launched)
And add it to the Excel Script Menu folder.
SteveO
Jul 28, 2008
5:43pm
Great, but... (or, and...)
Excel and its Solver functionality are clear category leaders, so it is indeed good news that Solver will soon be available in Excel 2008. But it surprises me how many buyers who relied on solver found out about its absence AFTER they bought the product. For future major edition changes, will MS be prominently listing the features removed, as well as those added, so the emptor can be caveat BEFORE the purchase?
smallbizmac
Aug 01, 2008
10:20am
Excellent news, but....
That is indeed excellent news. We bought a whole bunch of licenses, installed Office 2008 on a test machine and had to uninstall it and stick with 2004. Lack of a solver was one of the reasons.
The biggest reason is that the lack of VBA makes XIRR and XNPV and other old add-in functions not work properly in a Windows environment. Those functions are used all the time (which makes one wonder why they have been addins for years) and you can't send a spreadsheet that uses them between Windows and OS X because of the lack of VBA in OS X.
Comments | Who's Blogging This
jmdgls
Jul 23, 2008
2:51pm
Thanks!
This was definitely handled much better than other previous updates.
Thanks,
//john
carrollw
Jul 28, 2008
5:37pm
Curious terminology
But " ... eat our own dogfood"????
I've never heard this expression before, but even if I had, I think it might not be the most effective messaging.
Perhaps "eat our own cooking?" or "eat what we kill" or "put our money where our mouth is" or just about anything that doesn't imply that your product is in any way comparable to dog food.
Just a thought.
Jul 28, 2008
5:39pm
I apologize if the "dogfood" phrase threw you for a loop; it's been around the halls here at Microsoft forever. There's actually a good Wikipedia article on the history of the phrase:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eat_one's_own_dog_food
From the article:
"The idea originated in television commercials for Alpo brand dog food; actor Lorne Greene would tout the benefits of the dog food, and then would say it's so good that he feeds it to his own dogs. In 1988, Microsoft manager Paul Maritz sent Brian Valentine, test manager for Microsoft LAN Manager, an email titled "Eating our own Dogfood" challenging him to increase internal usage of the product..."
I'll try to keep the internal jargon out of my future Mojo posts. <grin>
Noryb
Jul 28, 2008
5:37pm
Start
Create a script something like this:
tell application "Solver"
try
with timeout of 0.1 seconds
activate
end timeout
end try
end tell
(This may not be the best way to do it...the try/timeout stuff is just to prevent things from blocking while the app is launched)
And add it to the Excel Script Menu folder.
SteveO
Jul 28, 2008
5:43pm
Great, but... (or, and...)
smallbizmac
Aug 01, 2008
10:20am
Excellent news, but....
The biggest reason is that the lack of VBA makes XIRR and XNPV and other old add-in functions not work properly in a Windows environment. Those functions are used all the time (which makes one wonder why they have been addins for years) and you can't send a spreadsheet that uses them between Windows and OS X because of the lack of VBA in OS X.
Any hope of getting that fixed?