Just out of interest, is it possible to share an application over a network? i.e., software installed on one Mac on a network, is it possible for another Mac to share/use it somehow, across the network?

i.e., to log in to another Mac over the network, call up a file whose software only resides on the Mac on the other side of the office?

I think the answer's going to be no.

To save you asking, the network is 4 x Macs all running Tiger.

Thanks

Yep. You log on to the Mac using file sharing and you run the application from the shared drive.

However, it won't work with all software. Nearly all software stores its preferences files in the home folder of the user you're currently running as; some software also stores registration information, application support files, pugins, and so on there as well, or in the System folder of the hard drive. Such applications may not work as expected, or at all, if they are run from a remote volume unless you first copy their preferences, application support, and registration files onto the computer you wish to use the program on.

Thanks for your reply Tacit. It took me a while to find this since I don't log in very often nowadays.

I found a way around this particular conundrum, and it worked to my surprise. Actually, I was very surprised indeed, looking at the software home site, which says you cannot do this.

I deleted the pre-installed installation on the Mac I would rather use it on, which refused to work, and emptied trash. (I also deleted the preference file.)

A couple of days later I reinstalled it and supplied the 24-digit key and the 9-digit registration code which I have since I bought the license. It worked.

Blimey. The app in question is very rigorous. But what the hey, it worked.