Is a Microsoft Office license required to view Excel files?

Question

We currently generate reports in MS Excel format. Our client just called to ask if we could generate those reports in OpenOffice format instead.

Their reason is that their entire office is being purged of Microsoft Office, as their license has expired, and they are no longer willing to renew their license. As a consequence, they want our application to NOT generate Excel files as well.

So, does opening Excel files require the viewer to have a Microsoft Office license, even if the file is to be opened by OpenOffice Spreadsheet? Or is it prohibited by the license to do so? Can anybody provide links to any legal text of some sort?

As far as I know, there is no such restriction. But I'd like to make sure and be confident about it when I respond to our client.

Thanks!

Answer 1

The Excel files belong to your clients (or you maybe). They can open them with whatever they want - a hex viewer, an image viewer, or even Open Office.

I'd guess Open Office probably has a better chance of letting them look at the data in a manner they're accustomed to. However, if OpenOffice has problems with the files, they can always get a free viewer app from Microsoft (if all they want to do is look at the files - not modify them).

Microsoft doesn't make getting their viewers as easy as they should (in my opinion), particularly if you want to view files that are in the newer Office 2007 formats. Here's a KB article on how:

• http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/925180

Answer 2

There is no such restriction. The specifications are placed under the Microsoft Open Specification Promise, guaranteeing there also won't ever be such a restriction.