In the long and storied history of spreadsheet software, few versions hold as unique a place as MICROSOFT OFFICE 2010 EXCEL X64 -thethingy-. For most users, "Excel 2010" was simply the iteration that introduced the Sparkline and the Slicer. But for power users, data analysts, and engineers, the real story was hidden in two words: X64.
At the time of its release, the phrase "64-bit Excel" felt like a myth—a unicorn that the community whispered about but few had actually deployed. Today, we are diving deep into what made this specific version (sometimes referred to by enthusiasts as "thethingy" due to its niche hardware requirements) a turning point in computational finance and big data analytics. MICROSOFT OFFICE 2010 EXCEL X64 -thethingy-
In Excel 2010 x64, the maximum array size is limited not by address space but by available memory + contiguous memory. A frequent issue: In the long and storied history of spreadsheet
Workaround: Use Excel’s worksheet ranges or .NET/COM interop for larger datasets. Workaround : Use Excel’s worksheet ranges or
Here was the real “thingy” nightmare. In 32-bit VBA, you could declare Windows API functions like this:
Declare Function FindWindow Lib "user32" Alias "FindWindowA" (ByVal lpClassName As String, ByVal lpWindowName As String) As Long
In 64-bit Excel, pointers are 64-bit (8 bytes), so Long (4 bytes) truncates addresses. You needed LongPtr and PtrSafe:
Declare PtrSafe Function FindWindow Lib "user32" Alias "FindWindowA" (ByVal lpClassName As String, ByVal lpWindowName As String) As LongPtr
Millions of legacy macros broke overnight. The fix? Conditional compilation flags (#If VBA7 Then...). But many companies simply stayed on 32-bit Office.