Install Mellel for all users?

[BenFDC]

I would like to install my copy of Mellel so that it can be run from any user account. However, it seems that the serial number must be entered for each account. This is a serious problem with regard to the Guest account under OS X 10.5, because the registration code is "forgotten" every time the guest user logs off.

Any help?

[rpcameron]

You are correct, however that is not a problem with Mellel, but rather a problem with OS X. The way the guest account is set up is to clear out its preferences and settings upon logout of whomever was using the account last. A viable workaround for this is to disable the system Guest account, and create your own non-password protected account that you will use for guest access, and manually maintain it.

[BenFDC]

OK, let's set aside the OS X 10.5 guest account issue for the nonce. Is there a way to install Mellel on a single Mac so that the registration code need not be entered for each and every user account?

[Mart°n]

You are correct, however that is not a problem with Mellel, but rather a problem with OS X.

I think it actually is a problem with Mellel as it stores the license information inside the user’s Library folder. Some other applications (for example OmniGraffle) could save the license info inside the root Library (Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support…) so that the key could be read by all users.
Currently the license key is stored inside the Mellel preferences file:
Macintosh HD/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.redlex.mellel.plist
and could (as far as I know) not be separated from the preferences. It may help you, if you create one new user, start Mellel, insert the license and close Mellel. Then you could copy the (aside from the license) fresh plist file out of the new user’s library and copy it into the user Library of any user account you like to use Mellel. I don’t know if this procedure saves much time over entering the license manually but it’s the only thing I could suggest right now.

You may try to throw that .plist file into the root Library:
Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/
A short test on my machine has shown, that Mellel could (and would) read the preferences from this folder too and accepts the license information but I don‘t know how those preferences interfere with the preferences file in the user’s Library (which will be created too).

Hope this helps.

[rpcameron]

I haven't read specifically or carefully the license agreement that accompanies Mellel, but part of the choice to store the license information in a particular user's folder as opposed to a system-wide location may be driven by the legalese of the license agreement. Circumventing this may be a violation the licensing terms.

[nicka]

I doubt that this is forced by legal considerations. The licence is per person, I believe, and presumably the law recognises (or the courts would recognise) that one person may legitimately have more than one account on a computer.
It might be a gentle encouragement to people who share a computer to buy a licence each, though.

[Mart°n]

Ori Redler posted some words some time ago about how the Mellel license works. He wrote, that the license works like a Book. You could read it, lend it to another user, take it with you to all the places you like to read it but typically, but typically a book could only be read by one person at the same time.
If you transfer this to the Mellel license, you could install it on multiple Macs (maybe your desktop & your notebook Mac) let other people on your Mac work with Mellel and so on… but one license should be used by only one person at the same time (if you work on your desktop Mac, nobody else should work with Mellel on your MacBook for example).
So the trick I’ve posted above doesn’t violate the Mellel license as only one user could use Mellel at the same time (given that nobody else is working remotely logged in at the same machine).