Delivering Commercial Software Using Access

[Phil Johnson]

I have an opportunity to port a DOS (yikes!) based
application to a Windows application. I have some
experience with Access in the past, but for building in-
house system (i.e. no install pkg, etc.). I understand
the MS Office Developers Edition has the tools package
the minimum runtime components so that the target PC
doesn't have to have Acess already installed.

What are the licensing issues if any? Does the company
I'm developing the application for retain all writes to
the source code?

Thanks in advance.

Phil

 

[Cheryl Fischer]

I understand

the MS Office Developers Edition has the tools package
the minimum runtime components so that the target PC
doesn't have to have Acess already installed.

That is correct. This works best when you have some control and/or
knowledge of the "standard" configuration on computers in your workplace.
If there are mixed versions of Windows and Office installed, distributing a
runtime can be problematic without using an add-in or two: SageKey
(http://www.sagekey.com) and either Wise Installer or InstallShield.

What are the licensing issues if any?

Using MS Office Developer's Edition to create, package and deploy an Access
application to users who do not have their own copy of Access provides you
with a royalty-free license to distribute your application and the runtime
components to any and all.

Does the company
I'm developing the application for retain all writes to
the source code?

For this, you may need an attorney, depending on where you live. As I
understand it, if you develop a custom application for a customer with
specifications provided by the customer, this is considered a "work for
hire" and the customer does own the source code. I would think that if the
customer already owns the DOS application then he certainly will be
providing you some specs, even if the specs are: "I want this application
to work just like this program I already own."

Your rights to re-sell the application or develop a similar application for
others should be clearly spelled out in a contract. If you have any doubts
at all about your rights as a developer and your client's rights, you
certainly should see an attorney specializing in intellectual property /
copyright law.

 

[Phil]

Cheryl,

Thanks so much for the info! Very helpful indeed. I may
not have worded the last one properly in terms of who
owns source code. I just wanted to make sure that my
customer retains all rights to the application code since
MS products were used to develop it (this is probably YES
i would guess, but i have no experience here). Thanks
again for all of your help.

Phil

 

[Cheryl Fischer]

You're welcome.