Version 8.0 *IS* Excel 97.  They are one and the same product.

Microsoft has been/is in the midst of changing it's product designations
from version numbers to year identifiers and this has caused a lot of
confusion for many people.

The progression of identifiers is :
(you could replace the word EXCEL with OFFICE
 and this would still be accurate)
Excel 6.0  -  a 16 bit product designed for Windows 3.x
Excel 7.0 also known as Excel for Windows 95
         The first 32 bit version and the beginning of the
         shift to year identifiers.
Excel 97 also known to a lesser extent as version 8.0
         The emphasis is now on the 97 instead of the 8.0
         but they are the same product.
Excel 2000 - Would have been Excel 9.0 if MS had continued
         that numbering system but will probably have
         completely dropped the version identifier by the
         time it is released.

Microsoft's new master plan seems to be using year identifiers for major
product releases and "build" numbers for minor upgrades.

Jim Meagher
=====
Micro Solutions Consulting     Member of The HTML Writers Guild
http://www.ezy.net/~microsol   International Webmasters Association
=====

> -----Original Message-----
> From: PCSOFT - Personal Computer software discussion list
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Gary W South
>
> I recently copied an excel 97 file to a floppy and took it to
> work. I put it
> on the computer at work and tried to open it with Excel and got a
> message that
> it was not a valid Excel file. The computer at work has Excel
> version 8.0.
>