Thanks to everyone for ideas on this.
Many programs just run wherever they are put, such as the mail client I use
(single-user Eudora). I drag the whole directory onto the thumb drive and
just run it from there.
I knew Finale had a formula for determining installations, but I just
wondered if one could install Finale to a thumb drive and then have it run
only from there. Each thumb drive (or flash card or microdrive, for that
matter, which can also be inserted in a USB interface) has a serial number,
so a portable Finale certainly could be tied to the device using a license
key based on the serial number. It could be authorized the same way. Other
than registration lock, there's nothing in the Windows registry that
couldn't be placed in a program initialization file instead. Since the
reauthorization process is done in part on trust anyway ("call & explain"),
I think using these portable storage devices wouldn't pose a big corporate
threat. :)
I'd certainly like to take Finale along on the neck strap that holds my
passwords and email program. It certainly beats a laptop for weight!
Dennis
At 09:48 AM 3/10/06 -0800, Eric Dannewitz wrote:
>I don't know if this can be done either. Where these people using Finale
>or something like Microsoft Word?
>
> I do use an iPod to shuttle files back and forth between my studio and
>home. I first used a thumb drive before I got an iPod, but I had a lot
>of issues with it. It worked great for like a month, then one system
>would see it and read it fine, and the other system would want to format
>it cause it couldn't read it. Perhaps cause it was some no-name flash
>drive? I don't know. When my iPod died (3 years old, hard drive kicked
>it), I was using a 2 gigabyte Compact flash card to shuttle files back
>and forth. It worked ok. Not anywhere as fast as using an iPod.
>
>If you have 2 systems that you use, Finale does let you install it on
>two different computers. Then you could use whatever to transfer things
>back and forth.
>
>dhbailey wrote:
>> Phil Daley wrote:
>>> At 3/10/2006 10:04 AM, Dennis Bathory-Kitsz wrote:
>>>
>>> >I've seen folks now & then run various programs when they are
>>> traveling by
>>> >using a thumb drive (those small memory devices that plug into USB
>>> ports).
>>> >They plug it in and run the executable on the thumb drive, and save
>>> their
>>> >documents there as well. That way they can work on material when
>>> they are
>>> >away from their own machines.
>>> >
>>> >Do you know if this is possible with Finale? To carry Finale, its
>>> fonts,
>>> >and whatever registration info is needed so it can be run on any
>>> machine
>>> >without ever installing it at all on that machine, and still be my
>>> legal
>>> >copy (complete with tether information)?
>>> >
>>> >(Right now I only keep my passwords and a few other important private
>>> >documents on my thumb drive, a copy of my email program, and various
>>> >utilities.)
>>>
>>> Could be done on Windows, I don't know about Macs.
>>>
>>
>> I don't think it can be done on Windows -- the registration number
>> necessary to have a fully-functional version of Finale is determined
>> by some secret formula based on the physical attributes of the host
>> computer (processor speed, motherboard stuff, ram, other hardware
>> installed, OS, tons of stuff) which is then forwarded to MakeMusic who
>> then responds with an answering number, both of which have to conform
>> to some preset standard, within a small range of variations.
>>
>> So if you add a hard-drive you probably won't have to re-register
>> Finale, but if you change enough components or upgrade your operating
>> system, you need to reregister.
>>
>> I don't see how that can be placed on a thumb drive and used on any
>> random computer with completely different components so that Finale's
>> checking on things to verify that it's a legal installation will
>> generate a faulty code which won't allow Finale to work.
_______________________________________________
Finale mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
