File open on more than one computer at a time

I maintain a network of four Macs (Cube, G4 Tower, Mini, and G5 Tower) all running OS 10.4.11. Recently two people working on the network discovered that they both had a certain file open at the same time. In order to determine the extent of the problem, on each computer I created and kept open a TextEdit file. I then attempted to open each TextEdit file from the three computers on which the file was not stored. To my dismay I received no error or warning message of any sort. I was able to open all four files on all four computers at the same time!
Each of the computers has a single user, and each computer is logged into the other computers as the user on that computer (i.e., each guest is logged in as the host). I wonder if that might be the source of the trouble.
I never noticed any file being open on more than one computer at a time when all the computers were running 10.3.9, only after I upgraded to 10.4.
Any ideas?

This is absolutely standard behavior and I don't expect this to change any time soon.
Let me try to explain based on a model of a file stored on Server1 and being accessed by Client1 and Client2:
Here's what's happening:
Client1 connects to the server and opens the file for reading.
Client1 reads the file and closes it
Client2 connects to the server and opens the file for reading.
Client2 reads the file and closes it
Since Client1 closed the file there's nothing to indicate to Client2 that the document is in use anywhere else because, in fact, it isn't.
There's nothing on the server that knows whether Client1 opened the file to look at it, to copy it, to back it up to some other media or to actually edit it. It is only that last step that should prevent another client from opening the file.
If you think about it, that makes perfect sense. If you copy the file over the network to Client1 you do not want the server to think that Client1 has an exclusive hold on that file and to prevent Client2 from opening it.
The only time the file is in use is a) when the file is being read, and b) when the file is being saved. When it's just being viewed the client doesn't have an active hold on the file.
The actual fix here is for the application to set a flag that the file is in use and for the server to honor that flag. It's supported by the networking protocols but it's rarely implemented in applications except those that expect a multi-user setup.

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