Today, the best option for people who need Solver is to run Excel 2004 and Excel 2008 side-by-side, and switch to the 2004 environment for workbooks that require Solver.
However, we have been hearing loud and clear from our customers particularly in education that the side-by-side solution is suboptimal. 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.
We definitely hear you, and were working on it.
The Excel team is actively working to bring Solver to Excel 2008 as part of a future update. We have two distinct technical approaches and are exploring both. Once we have established which is the best option and have code that meets our quality bar we will announce a timeframe for availability here on Mojo.
In the meantime, please know that this is a top priority for the Excel team.
