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In Office 2004 Solver provides powerful tools for scheduling, capacity planning and making calculations based on certain constraints. However it is reliant on Microsoft's Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) environment, which was dropped from Office 2008.

For now, Office 2008 users who want Solver capabilities are advised to switch back to Office 2004 when necessary, a wholly unsatisfactory situation even with

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the belated release of suitable file format translators.

"We have been hearing loud and clear from our customers - particularly in education - that the side-by-side solution is sub-optimal," said the Mac BU's Gavin Shearer. "For many people, Solver is a critical and necessary tool for coursework, and they want to work with Solver natively in the Excel 2008 environment."

As a result Solver restoration is planned for a future Office 2008 update.

"We have two distinct technical approaches and are exploring both," Shearer said. "Once we have established which is the best option - and have code that meets our quality bar - we will announce a timeframe."

In the meantime, an alternative may be found in the free OpenOffice suite, which boasts both limited VBA support and a solver component.