VBA Shell function doesn't work

Folks --

The Shell in VBA in Office X always returns PID 0 and doesn't execute
anything, no matter what I try. I want to run a perl script. Similar
code works on Windows XP. Anyone know what's wrong? I'm running OS
10.4.8 and Office v.X with latest updates as of Dec 1, 2006 on a Ti
Powerbook.

What I've found so far:

1 VBA expects Macintosh-style paths using colons, in my case, something
like "TrustyG4 OS:bin:date", given that I want to exec /bin/date

2 Dir() finds date without a problem

3 Shell("TrustyG4 OS:bin:date") returns PID 0, no messages; obviously
works fine from Terminal to say % date

4 Shell("script.command") returns PID 0, no messages, doesn't the
script (chmod'd -x => rwx permissions); works fine to double-click it
from the Finder

I found a 2003-vintage related post titled "Several Errors/Dysfunctions
in VB-Macros for Excel X" with the same question. Just for the heck of
it, I tried:

5 Shell(MacID("MSWD")) , which still returns PID 0, but does in fact
launch word. But that doesn't do me any good given that I want to run
perl, not open an app in a window.

Ideas? Does this stuff work for you?

Thanks,

Rob

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