Mixing Office Suite and Viewers on remote server

unclepablo

unclepablo

unclepablo

Associate
Joined
9 Jul 2006
Posts
130
Hi - I've just been brought into a consultancy role with a customer that has just under 100 users, all running remotely via thin-client.

I believe they just have a single Office 2003 licence for all of the users(!) - so, we're looking to tidy it up.

Most of the end-users (80 odd) only need to view and print Word/Excel documents with the other 20 needing editing functionality.

To buy 100 odd Office licences (OLP) is a pretty tidy sum.

So the question is: Is there anyway of installing the free Word/Excel viewer application but also install Office 2007 on the server - but limiting who gets what.

Perhaps you could leave the file association of xlsx/docx with the viewer and if you wanted to edit the documents manually open the respective program? Although this doesn't limit what user can assess the full suite.

Any thoughts welcome please. Cheers
 
Thanks Walnuts - that certainly answers several of them and backs up what I thought.

Not many of the desktops have a licence of Office so that's a no go but I'll check out AppSense, although I'm not sure if this will work with the vWorkspace product they are using?

I'd like to hear of any real-life situations that have been solving using this or any other methods :)
 
Just thinking out loud but have you thought of moving 80 users who only need to view/print documents to Server A and other 20 users to Server B? Buying an extra server and splitting users may be cheaper than buying 100 licenses for office.
 
This was discussed on here a while back, albeit for mixing versions of office.

A 100 users company thats too ***** to buy office though...wut?

Openoffice?
 
andicole0 said:
Shouldn't you be looking at Client Access Licenses in this setup? http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/about-licensing/client-access-license.aspx. You would only need 20 Office CAL's for the full users. You should also look closely at the license for the viewers, some are free only for non-business use and would still need licensing in a commercial environment.

Andi.
Click to expand...

Didn't think they did just a CAL for office products though?

Yes per user CALS would be ideal, but just don't think licensing office works that way, it's not a CAL based product like exchange, sql, windows server etc.

And according to MS you can't even just setup security groups to control who can run the executables, as that's treating the software as per user licensing when it's done per device.

The MS viewers for Word + Exel are fine to use.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the info. I'll have a look for the previous thread to see if it sheds anymore light. It's just trying to only buy the "full" versions if needed.

Iand - Trying to avoid spending 24K (£300x80) on office licences that aren't needed is hardly "*****" - especially in this ecomonic climate! :p
 
I'm just trying to work out what sort of business with that many staff is formed in the first place without putting the basic IT infrastructure in place in the first place.

I stand by my openoffice suggestion, easier than bodging it and probably not being legal anyway.

FWIW, it's unlikely to be anything like 300 per license if you shop around and look at the various licensing programs on offer
 
iaind said:
I'm just trying to work out what sort of business with that many staff is formed in the first place without putting the basic IT infrastructure in place in the first place.
Click to expand...

Really? I don't think think IT being an after thought is uncommon at all with the SME business I've worked with. Maybe, I've just been unlucky ;)

Seriously though, I appreciate your input.

iaind said:
FWIW, it's unlikely to be anything like 300 per license if you shop around and look at the various licensing programs on offer
Click to expand...

I wish I could find a better price! Office seems to be expensive - this is looking at the OLP licence for Office Standard 2007.

If anyone's interested, I've found the following article which answers what I was originally trying to achieve:-
http://www.brianmadden.com/blogs/br...ons-to-support-side-by-side-applications.aspx

Thanks all.
 
unclepablo said:
If anyone's interested, I've found the following article which answers what I was originally trying to achieve:-
http://www.brianmadden.com/blogs/br...ons-to-support-side-by-side-applications.aspx

Thanks all.
Click to expand...

Whilst that will probably do what you want to do, bear in mind that in Microsoft's eyes that's probably not a valid way to control your licenses.

Office is a per device installation, not user based.

Could be wrong though, but from experience of trying to get away with similar ways of doing I know it's not generally considered a way to do it :)
 
unclepablo said:
Really? I don't think think IT being an after thought is uncommon at all with the SME business I've worked with. Maybe, I've just been unlucky ;)

Seriously though, I appreciate your input.


I wish I could find a better price! Office seems to be expensive - this is looking at the OLP licence for Office Standard 2007.

If anyone's interested, I've found the following article which answers what I was originally trying to achieve:-
http://www.brianmadden.com/blogs/br...ons-to-support-side-by-side-applications.aspx

Thanks all.
Click to expand...

Really - i'd understand it if they were a 10 person startup, but you dont get to 100 staff overnight.

What sort of organisation is it?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom