Sharing single-user licences

If all that you want to do is install a single-user copy of Cardbox on your own computer, then go ahead and do it: you don't need to read this page.

Installing Cardbox centrally on a LAN

In a corporate network, the administrators sometimes impose a rule that application software (such as Cardbox) should be installed in a shared folder on a file server. The reason may be ease of maintenance and backup, or it may be so that the installed software is accessible from any PC on the network.

A single-user licence is a single-user licence!

The fact that your Cardbox licence has been installed in a shared folder does not exempt you from the obligation to keep to the licence terms: in particular, you must ensure that this licence is never used by more than one person at the same time.

Cardbox has built-in programming to ensure that a licence cannot be used more than once simultaneously, so you should find that all the licence checking is done for you. You must not try to circumvent this mechanism (for example, by installing the same licence in several places on the file server).

Multiple single-user licences

If you have bought several single-user licences for Cardbox, you can install them all in the same shared folder: they will not interfere with each other, and Cardbox will be able to use them as and when necessary.

For instance, if you have three single-user licences for Cardbox, and you install them in the same shared folder, then any three people on your network will be able to use Cardbox simultaneously. Whenever any user closes Cardbox his licence is released and becomes available for the next person who wants to open Cardbox.

Multi-user licences

Professional Edition multi-user licences come in various sizes and they allow a given number of people to use the same licence simultaneously. There are two important differences between having one multi-user licence and having several single-user licences in the same folder:

You can remove individual single-user licences and install them elsewhere (eg. a laptop), but you can't split a multi-user licence into pieces and install different bits of it in different places.
For any given number of users, a multi-user licence costs less than the equivalent number of single-user licences.

Sharing databases

If you want to share databases as well as sharing Cardbox licences, you need the Cardbox Server. For this reason we offer multi-user packages that include both the appropriate licences and the Cardbox Server. See the links in the left-hand column for more information.