.xlsx? What about now?
The most recent Excel uses a different file format. Instead of the traditional .xls, now the extension is .xlsx(the other main Office's file formats also have the 'x' in their end now, like .docx and .pptx). The problem is that these files are not supported by Excel 2003... I mean, it wasn't. Microsoft published a tool that lets us open the Office 2007's files with Office 2003. You just need to install the FileFormatConverter and you will be able to open any file of Excel 2007 with Excel 2003.
If you received a .xlsx file from a friend, you can also ask him to save the spreadsheet in the .xls format(go to the Microsoft Office button/Save As/Excel 97-2003 Workbook), which is faster than downloading the FileFormatConverter's 27 MBytes.