Collaborative computer-based production system including annotation, versioning and remote interaction

A method for recreating the state of an application program at a process executing at a location remote from the application program, wherein a recorded environment includes settings for recreating the state of the application program, the method comprising

• receiving, over a digital network, the recorded environment;
• executing another instance of the application program at the location remote from the application program;
• using the instance and the recorded environment to recreate the state of the application program at the location remote from the application program;
• storing, on a network, an image of the state of the application program;
• determining that the instance cannot be used to recreate the state of the application program at the location remote from the application program;
• and
• in response to the step of determining, displaying the stored image at the location remote from the application program.

An apparatus for conveying the state of an application program to a remote location, the apparatus comprising

• a process for capturing the current state of operation of the application program;
• a process for saving one or more settings of a current environment of the application program as a recorded environment;
• a process for transferring the recorded environment to a remote location;
• and
• a process for storing an image of a screen display for retrieval by a process at the remote location if the remote location is unable to recreate the state of the application program.

A computer-readable medium including instructions for conveying the state of an application program to a remote location, the computer-readable medium comprising

• one or more instructions for capturing the current state of operation of the application program;
• one or more instructions for saving one or more settings of a current environment of the application program as a recorded environment;
• and
• one or more instructions for transferring the recorded environment to a remote location;
• and
• one or more instructions for storing an image of a screen display for retrieval by a process at the remote location if the remote location is unable to recreate the state of the application program.