Office Professional and Runtime Files Question.

[The_Vincester]

Question:

I notice that I have ACCESSRT.msi and ACCESSRT.CAB on my MS Office Professional CD. Why would I need VSTO? For the packaging wizard? Why can't I just install these files on the computers of my users and then an .mde file?

Why would they have included these files if this wasn't their intention?

It just seems silly that I would have to pay $799 for files that are included on my disk. (Microsoft? Silly? Surely you jest.) I would need VSTO for absolutely NOTHING else but this.

Can someone "enlighten" me on the thinking here?

I would also clarify this is for interoffice work only (if it makes a difference) and not something I'm distributing for a "paid" end user.

 

[ghudson]

License fees of course. Microsoft allows you to freely distribute the runtime version of Access [to run your application] if you have paid for the developers edition of Office.

If the users already have Access 2003 and you just want them to run your application in the runtime version of Access then there is nothing to install. If the user does not have Access 2003 then you will have to buy the Microsoft Office Access 2003 Developer Extensions package if you want them to be able to run your application on a Windows XP computer.

 

[The_Vincester]

While that makes sense, but I wish MS gave the option to only purchase the developer extensions (with licensing options). It's getting increasingly difficult to convince those above me that this would be a good purchase, when that is all I really need.

Why does this situation seem to be so all or nothing (UNLIMITED copies or can't distribute)? It seems out of line with the rest of their business model.

All said, I guess it'll do no good to complain about it, but to try to convince them to get VSTO.

Here's something though... (but I doubt any of you are lawyers, so I'm not sure if you'd have the answer).

It is VERY likely that someone at our office in New York would have VSTO. What if they made a small app (one table, one form) and distributed it to my department? It would then install the runtime version, at which point it would run any app (.mdb) in runtime, correct?

I don't want to be in violation of their EULA, but only want a creative way to utilize what we have. It seems "sketchy," but I'm not a dev, only an office manager trying to create something that will help the department.

 

[ghudson]

Yes that would work.

I am no legall expert but... Why not use it to suit your needs if you all work for the same company?