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Parallels Scares Me Sometimes
Tonight someone sent me an email with a spreadsheet in it. The extension was .xlsx, not something Office for the Mac understands. I clicked on it anyway to see what would happen. Here’s what happened:
- Parallels fired up Excel in Windows in “coherence” mode so that my Windows version of Excel was running in it’s own window—just like a regular application.
- Excel in Windows tried to open the file, but realized it was for Office 2007.
- Safari on Windows (apparently now my default browser) fired up and offered to download the compatibility pack.
- I did that and installed it, but couldn’t figure out how to use it from there.
So, I still couldn’t read the file, but I was amazed at the experience anyway. I’m sure if I’d tried, I could have figured it out, but I’m too tired.
Posted by windley on July 20, 2007 9:48 PM
Comment from Michael Neale at July 21, 2007 7:10 AM
It is pretty amazing, machines within machines.
But what would be nicer if people wouldn't send formats that require you to pay a tax to read them ;)
Comment from Scott Barlow at July 21, 2007 11:55 PM
So in case you wanted to know something interesting: change the .xlsx to .zip, open it, wade through all of the .xml files there that collect data, and then the sharedstrings.xml that finally has the data in it.
All in all though - I like Office 2007 better than previous versions. The Ribbon has me baffled at times because I don't know where certain features are at some times, but overall it's an improvement over the last and also what there is in alternatives.
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