Excel 2011 for Mac could be less than a month, from what we hear - and we can't wait. 

For many people, about the only thing that Windows has had that beats the pants off the Mac is a version of Excel that is admittedly superior. Well, hopefully, on October 26th, that will change (or at least be diluted). 

The biggest news, of course, is the return of macros. Finally, you'll be able to run VBA code... hell, you might even be able to open Excel Everest! There are other changes as well, though - and while all of them are not obvious , they're important nonetheless.

The interface has been spruced up, for one, with the ribbon making its into Office 2011 for the Mac and sparklines making a welcome entry. Sparklines are a way to depict data within a single cell, rather than go through the whole process of creating a chart. It doesn't sound like much, but try it for yourself. It's a huge timesaver, and a very convenient way to tell a quick, effective story.

Macworld reports a benchmarking test in which the new shiny not-yet-unwrapped version comfortably beat the older version in every parameter - but there is a bit of bad news: scrolling is much more clunky this time around.

Ah well - look at it this way. Let's just be glad it's only the scrolling, not something more critical than that.

But here's looking at you, October 26, 2011!

Excel for Mac

Apple fanboys aren't exactly overflowing with bright and cheery emotions when it comes to Microsoft product, but even these high-priests of cool will admit that Microsoft has a good thing going when it comes to productivity tools and software.

And when it comes to spreadsheets, Excel has everybody beat. Which is precisely why even the most die-hard Mac fan will install Office for the Mac - if you use your laptop for work, Office and Excel in particular are more or less unavoidable.

But back in 2008, Microsoft gave the people who hate it even more reason to do so, by withdrawing support for VBA in the 2008 version of Office for the Mac. A standard feature on the 2004 cycle, it was removed for seemingly no good reason in 2008. This left many Mac users fuming, since VBA forms a critic al part of the many advanced uses of Excel.

Still, the sky's not about to come crashing down on all you Mac fans just yet. ZDNet has just announced that they have received confirmation from Microsoft - VBA will indeed be making a return to the latest version. Microsoft itself had made an announcement a couple of years ago, but they'll forgive us our wait for confirmation from another source.

And that's not all - full compatibility has also been assured between the Windows and Mac versions. Rosy days indeed.

Excel for Mac