Is all networked tax software slow to load?

We are using Intuit Proseries and have found that while standalone installations load quickly, the network version with user workstations often takes several minutes to load.

We've been through the hoops with Intuit, setup multiple fast networks and server environments and they basically acknowledge (without directly saying so) that it can take several minutes to load for user workstations, even under the best of conditions.

How long is the initial startup for networked workstations for other software, such as UltraTax, CCH, etc ?

That sounds unusually slow. Every architecture is different so it's probably not a fair comparison across vendors on "load time". For example Drake is nearly instantaneous but it is of course a much lighter-weight application than ProSeries is...

We used Proseries for a long time, and abandoned it about 5 years ago for Drake. One of the reasons is load time, even on a gigabit network with 1 server and 2 clients, and update time.

Drake network installation loads almost instantly - no noticeable difference between local and network load. It think this is because Drake's software model is simpler than ProSeries.

Drake has its weaknesses, but load time and update time is 10 fold faster than ProSeries.

In a peer-to-peer network, like ours, you will be limited to the number of clients attached, depending on the version of Windows you run. In a client-server network, that shouldn't be a problem except you are limited to your CAL licenses.

UltraTax and Prosystem both have a feature that allows you to have additional files and processing at the workstation level. For UltraTax, this speeds up the intial open and moving from page to page. I have not used this setup in ProSystem. The drawback is that the client information in UT is temporarily located on the workstation until the file is closed and saved back to the server. If a local error occurs, you have to know what files to locate in order to restore the work that you completed since last save. Also, if you have the Home page open on start for any CS application, there is a significant load time with marginal value. You can set the home option to never show and CS apps open 10x faster, FYI.