Thank you both for your input, unfortunately i do not know php and will have to stick to finishing the standalone vb.net. Also this application does connect to remote machines as i am using one of many machines in my domain to create it and the sql server is stand alone windows 2003 server. this application would also be very easy to implement "check out" as all i would have to do is create a filename.chk file and then when trying to open the file check for that. It is not something i thought about but it is a GREAT idea and will put it on my list. As far as updating the spells files client side, that would have to be done by a client and a simple asp or php or even html page could accomplish this just by having an updates page.
As an update for the actual application, i missed a file in my last publish and have put it on the web server.
The XLS file