ok, I think I finally get it, and I need some help now.

When my internet connection is on (wi-fi):

1. houdini is starting up for minute or two
2. importing-exporting low/mid res geometry (obj files) also takes some time (around minute);
3. mantra window starts up for long time also

then, when I turn off wi-fi this is what happens:

1. houdini starts up in few seconds;
2. import-export also lasts several seconds;
3. mantra starts up right away;

so, I wisely 8) concluded that something related with a wi-fi connection and/or os x's way of handling network connections is messing with houdini.

I use littlesnitch to control network trafic, and everything in relation with houdini has “allow all” rules applied (houdini, license manager…)

Any thoughts? It's h10 (production build), os x 10.5.6…

May be related to these threads:
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewtopic&t=13954 [sidefx.com]
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewtopic&t=13404 [sidefx.com]
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewtopic&t=11744 [sidefx.com]

yes, it looks like we have a same problem.. huh… right now I don't have time to play with that… I'll just go the easy way and disable wi-fi