Office 12 security may hamper integration
Microsoft is planning fundamental changes to its Office 12 desktop productivity suite that could prevent easy integration with many applications built in VBA (Visual Basic for Applications).
Microsoft said changes in the software, due out next year, were driven by the need to improve security.
Mark Quick, head of technology in Microsoft's Developer and Platform Group, said there were more than 700 third-party applications that use VBA. In addition, many businesses have developed their own bespoke VBA applications.
Microsoft has promised that Office 12 will be compatible with previous versions of Office, but documents saved in the new XML file format will not be able to run macros or Office applications developed using VBA.
The company will continue to support VBA in the 32-bit Windows environment on 64-bit systems, but it will not offer 64-bit VBA. Instead, users will need to redevelop applications using Microsoft's .net Framework.
