Microsoft Office Web Components are a collection of Component Object Model (COM) controls for publishing spreadsheets, charts, and databases to the Web. They are also used to view these items when published and to view data access pages.
If you have Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003, Microsoft Office Access 2003, and Microsoft Office Excel 2003 installed, Office Web Components allow you to publish interactive data as part of a Web page. Used with Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5.01 or later, Office Web Components allow you to view a published control (Spreadsheet, chart, or database) on a Web page and to view data access pages.
By installing The Office Web Components tool, users can view published components and data access pages on the Web without having to install Office 2003. Note: If you do not own an Office 2003 license, the Office Web Components are licensed to be used in Static, non-interactive, client-side, view-only mode. If you do own an Office 2003 license, the Office Web Components are licensed to be used in interactive mode.