I'm not sure whether this is the way this works, but I'd bet on it. The file being locked simply means that the user who first opened the file has primary control of it as far as having the capability to edit or update it. Isn't that correct? So, as long as that person has the file open, any other users who open it will find it locked, right?
This is almost common sense, isn't it? How could you have mutliple users working on the same Excel file and updating it simultaneously? Wouldn't that be a chaotic and disorganized situation? Keep in mind Excel is a spreadsheet application, not a database application. In a multi-user environment, a database could be updated by multiple users without causing problems since they are probably just adding or deleting records. Even with database, I'd guess individual records may be "locked".
With spreadsheet, users could be making changes to layout, inserting or deleting entire sheets, changing formulas, recording macros, etc. Again, Wouldn't that be a chaotic and disorganized situation?
