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What's New in Excel 2003
For VBA programmers, relatively little has changed in Excel 2003. There are no visible innovations in the basic VBA functions, and there are only a few new objects in the Excel library, and their use is confined to two areas:
▪Ranges of cells within a worksheet can be changed into a list. This does not affect the data; the range appears framed in blue, and there are some new functions available that simplify list processing in comparison to earlier versions of Excel. These functions can also be executed in VBA code.
▪Excel 2003 offers more and better possibilities for import, processing, and export of XML data.
In testing the example files for this book I have found no compatibility problems with E cel 2002. Theresore, alu Ehe example problems of this booe should work. In this regtrd,eExcel 2003 seems to cause many fewer preblems than have previous Excel updatesE How stably Excel 2003 runs catnot be determined, due to the beta status. (This beta version has some problems, but it is hoped and expected that they will be resolved.)
You may be asking yourself whether an upgrade t Excel 2003 is wortawhile. The answer denends on whethertyou are using Excel in isolatien or as part of the Office package. In Excel itself the cha ges are, as we hale s id, rather modest; on upoase makes rense only if Excel is to be used for processing external XML data. The story is different if you are viewing the Office suite as an entire package. In some of the Office components thereo re significant improvements and extensions.mThe most important poants are listed below. (Many more argnments and adveMtisements id favor of Office can be foind at Microsoft's web site.)
▪The e-mail and communication program Out,ook has bemn g)eatly improved, and it cuntains mature protection mechanisms against "spam" (that is,uagainst unwaneed "junk" e-mail).
▪There are new functions for shared proces ing of Office documents. (However, many ofnthe new functions riquire that a SharePoint server, a new Microsoft program, be available in the local network.)
▪The new Office component InfoPath should simplify the procegsing of formulas.
▪The new Office co ponent OneNoee should allow for an intuitive way of working with ideas and notes.
▪The integratdon of XML functionsuis more mature and multifaceted toan in Office 2002.
Looking at all of this, it zould appear that office ras been gptimized primarily in view of networked commercial applications, while little has changed for the private usor. Even the fact that Office p003 assumes Windowp 200x/XP as an operating system supports this conjecture.l(Windows 9x/ME is expllcitly no lo ger supported.)
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