But, analysts warned, the users most likely to be directly affected are large companies that plan to install or currently are deploying either Office XP or Office 2003 bundled with the Microsoft Access database.
A U.S. District Court jury in California found last year that code primarily used in Access 2002 and 2003 infringed upon a patent held by a Guatemalan inventor.
Although Microsoft is appealing the ruling, the company last week said that it began sending e-mail notices about the upgrade requirements to corporate users of Office on Jan. 20. Microsoft said customers deploying Office 2003 with Access must install the Service Pack 2 update that it released for the application suite last September. New users of Office XP and Access are required to install a patch.
For many large companies, service pack and patch installations can be a major headache because of the extensive testing that's needed before the software can be rolled out, as well as the often lengthy deployment process itself.
Corporate users "don't want to break what's not broken." said Kevin McGrew, CEO of TechTrack Solutions Inc., an asset management consultancy in Vancouver, British Columbia. McGrew estimated that for every 1,000 PC users, an IT staff must spend a week testing new patches or service packs and then deploy them.
With its most directly affected customers, Microsoft is taking a carrot-and-stick approach on the upgrade issue. The company is promising to indemnify customers from third-party claims if they upgrade quickly. But Microsoft also noted that its contracts require users to "immediately" upgrade to new noninfringing software that it releases. Existing users who have mixed Office XP or Office 2003 with Access can't ignore the upgrade issue completely. Microsoft is recommending, but not requiring, that such users upgrade their systems.
That's not enough to prompt Marc West, CIO at Kansas City, Mo.-based H&R Block Inc., to rush to upgrade the tax-return preparation firm's PCs. West oversees about 120,000 Windows systems in 14,000 offices nationwide, and he said that most already run Office 2003 or Office XP.
Although convincing customers to install the non-infringing code "is of value to Microsoft, it's not of direct value to us," West said. "We will most likely continue on our normal path unless security issues arise."
"Companies have no financial incentive [to upgrade] unless they are going to be financially dinged," McGrew said. "Most will just do it at their own pace." Microsoft noted that for small businesses, installing a service pack or patch is relatively painless. It's also less trouble for corporate users if it can be combined with an Office upgrade. But analysts said the required additions could dissuade some users on older versions from upgrading now, especially with a new Office 12 release due later this year.