Question on Party and Empire

[RPatterson]

The empire software seems to run better on my computer. Does it just seem that way or is there actually any performance difference between the two?

And the 2nd question is about them having the same players? If I play on Empire am I playing with people on Party too? How do they do the rake between the two sites if that is the case?

[Jsb]

i don't know about your first question, although my guess would be that it is just coincidence. party and empire are just two skins of the same program, their code should basically be the same except for a few snippets, and the stuff that is different shouldn't have any affect on the performance that i can think of. thats just my assumption though.
as to your second question, yes you are playing with the players who are playing with party as well. both programs access the same servers, so your playing on the same server as the other programs people, so you play in the same games. theres no way to know who at your table is using party and who is using empire without actually asking them.
your last question, my assumption would be that its not really an issue since both are owned by the same people. again its not really a different program, just a different skin of the same program, so all resources probably get pooled into and out of the same place from both programs. i could be wrong though. the answer to your second question is the only one that i'm 100% positive about, the other two have just always been my assumptions and i've never really questioned it much.