Network Program Sharing?

[JRUMJ]

I have a question about sharing a program on my work network. We have a network of around 25 people, with a T1 to another office. At my workstation I have a label printer (a datamax something; its a thermal printer) anyways, there is a program that is used to print labels to this perticular printer. We have shared this printer with the rest of the network but the program is only installed on my computer (which of course we cannot find the disk). I don't get to play around with our network at all (my boss will think I am breaking something) so I am not able to try unless I can tell our network guy how to do it. Isn't that some crap?? Anyways, I wanted to know if there was any way to let other users print labels with the program on my computer? Couldn't I allow access on my computer? Put the folder on the company drive with access to all or something?

It wouldn't take me long to try this and figure it out on my own but like I said I can't. Only the network admin can.

[KorpDeath]

Sounds like your network admin should do his job. You have a need and he/she/they should meet that need, that's what makes their job so much fun.

I'm quite sure it's possible, not sure about the licesing aspect of it, (sounds dubious). You might want to check with the manufacturer of the printer and make sure it's kosher to do that, and on top of that they might have a program that you can use for that. (I can share an HP scanner with the entire network utilizing just such a program.)

[JRUMJ]

Well hopefully I will be taking his job when I finish school. Thats the plan anyways.

This program does not come with the printer. It is called Bartender I'm not sure how popular it is but we use it for our thermal printer. I don't think it would be a licensing issue but it may be. Good point.

[nihil]

You could create a folder with the program in it and share that folder with the rest of the network. I would guess that the program is quite old and was designed to be used in a one PC, one printer, one program environment.

[KorpDeath]

Seagull offers an enterprise version of the software that should, without a doubt, do what you want. No fiddling, no messing about, just show them the money and they will show you the love.

check it out.
http://www.seagullscientific.com/aspx/pricelist.aspx

[JRUMJ]

You say to create a folder and allow everyone permission but do I just copy that folder from my computer to the network drive ( we no longer have the disk )

Yes this is a older program but it is not our choice to use it. We need this program to open attachments given by certain customers.

I don't see how they will be able to open if the necessary registry edits are not on their machine.

[nihil]

I am guessing, but I would expect the programs related to this application to be in something like:

C:\program files\seagull\BarTender\

Just allow sharing for that. I guess it is legitimate as you have one printer and one installation of the client software. You will need to check the licence agreement. It will probably be a text file in that folder.

[warriorfan808]

I don't mean to change the subject, but this seems pretty close. Can you do the same thing with Office 2003? Volume licenses are extremely expensive and this would solve a lot of issues.

[nihil]

Hmmmm,

Can you do the same thing with Office 2003? Volume licenses are extremely expensive and this would solve a lot of issues.

I very much doubt it. This is rather different, it is software that prints labels, and is loaded onto a desktop. Now it is probably OK to let people share that one desktop installation, but I would be very surprised if that was not restricted to one user at a time

As the company seem to have managed with this software for some time, that may well be OK, otherwise they will have to fork out for the enterprise version, which allows unlimited users.

With stuff like Office you need an applications server and go thin client. I am not sure about pricing for server installations, nor how many clients each installation would support.

[treanglin]

It's funny because I just picked up a book today about companies that tried to save money and thought that they were being smart by sharing or installing programs that were only licensed for only 1 computer and ended up catching hell in the long run.

My question would be... have you talked with support?

Here's the website:http://www.seagullscientific.com/aspx/techsupport.aspx

Here's the phone number: 1 425 641 1408

And Here's the fax number: 425 641 1599 ("Attn: Tech Support")

See what they have to say and then, if you still want to risk it, you can try and hack it out.


as for this...

Can you do the same thing with Office 2003? Volume licenses are extremely expensive and this would solve a lot of issues.

... I think that you spend as much on TS licensing and server software and load balancing hardware than it cost for a volume license agreement for Office?