How does Crystal Reports Runtime Licensing work?
I am designing an application in C# and I want to use some Crystal Reports in my application. I am selling this application as freelance to a small business. This is my first program that I have ever sold. I have Crystal Reports 2008 that I am using to design reports with. Do I need to get any kind of licensing from Business Objects to include the Crystal Reports Runtime for report printing in my application? Or do I not need to worry about it as long as I have a licensed version of Crystal Reports 2008 on my development machine.
The client would only need be able to print the reports that I have designed on my machine, not design their own. The reports would be saved as a file. The application will load the saved report and print it with provided data.
I did see this article which answers the most part of my question. However, it does not include whether it covers loading saved report documents?
Any additional related information for a commercial product newbie is gladly appreciated.
Answer
According to SAP's website, by purchasing a license to Crystal Reports 2008 you are allowed to distribute the runtime along with your application without further licensing. Your product would be considered a thick client application for external use, meaning the entities using the software would not be a part of your organization.
From SAP's website regarding licensing:
Thick client applications for internal and external use: When these component engines are embedded into thick client applications, they may be freely distributed both internally and externally to third parties. (emphasis mine)
Source: SAP Crystal Reports Licensing Information
This is not very different from CR XI's redistribution license, but in CR XI you had to have the development edition to legally redistribute the runtime to a third party. They seem to have simplified this considerably.