SharePoint 2010 and Office Web Apps - A Lesson in Licensing Confusion

I’m in the process of learning SharePoint 2010 and setting it up in our environment. I have downloaded the evaluation version, got it running with sites, document libraries, forms, wikis, workflows and dashboards as a proof of concept. Our leadership group loves it and signed off on implementing it according to my recommended phased approach.

I dutifully bought and read a couple very thick SharePoint 2010 Administration manuals so I would set up our live environment correctly. It is easy to click Next > Next > Next > Finish and get SharePoint working, but as I found out in the manuals, I had missed dozens of things in my demo setup that would have caused headaches later on. Very glad I put in the time and did the research.

One of the nice features of SharePoint 2010 is Office Web Apps, which allow users to work with Office documents through a browser. This is the same as the consumer version of Office Web Apps you can use through Windows Live. Both books I bought, and the online forums I read, describe how to install and set up Office Web Apps (OWA – not to be confused with another OWA – Outlook Web Access), but nowhere could I find a resource that tells me where to get the software.

After much digging and research, here is the story with licensing OWA: You can only use and install OWA on a SharePoint server if you have a Volume License for Office 2010. The only place to download OWA is through the Volume Licensing Service Center. Log in and go to Downloads > Licensed Downloads > Office 2010. Select your language, then for Operating System Type, select 32 bit, even though your SharePoint 2010 server is 64 bit. Click on Continue Download and you will then be offered the 64 bit version of Office Web Apps 64 bit. Clear as mud, right?

Don’t ask me why you have to choose 32 bit to get the 64 bit. Or why OWA isn’t listed at the top level. Or why this process is not explained on any Microsoft site. It has been a time consuming nightmare finding this information. Nowhere on any Microsoft site or in any SharePoint documentation does it describe the process for obtaining OWA bits. I’m hopeful this will save someone time and frustration.