>>The client has a rule that the EXE should be on the network as it is then easier to upgrade.
>>I too prefer to have it on the local drives.
>
>It's even easier to upgrade if you have the EXE locally AND on the server, but always run it from the local copy. You use what is called a loader program, a program which does among other things the following:
>1. Checks if the EXE on the server is newer than the local EXE, if so it copies the newer EXE to the PC
>2. Starts the local EXE
>Between 1 and 2 you can also add a lot of other similar stuff.
>
>The big advantage with this approach is that you can update the EXE on the server while people run the program. Once the new EXE is copied, you ask everyone to restart the program, and they will immediately run the new version.

Or even don't ask them to reload... sometimes I had four versions running at the same time, no problem. Of course, that's when the versions don't require different structure of tables, but short of such showstoppers, it's quite feasible.

And actually, this way Russel's boss would be happy - the loader reduces the network traffic, and automates the updates. And in a way, the exe IS on the server, and only the exe on the server needs to be updated. The rest just happens automagically.