There are Live CDs that boot up an OS and allow you to use it without installation.
I was wondering if there is an easy way to customize a Live CD so that it only loads what is necessary to run one application, and runs that application.
There are Live CDs that boot up an OS and allow you to use it without installation.
I was wondering if there is an easy way to customize a Live CD so that it only loads what is necessary to run one application, and runs that application.
With Ubuntu I used the Ubuntu Customization Kit to customize an Ubuntu Live CD that loaded the stuff I needed by default in my computer.
For some values of "easy way" yes, but in most cases no.
If the required OS is Windows, you'll find a lot of information if you check out BartPE. You'll have licensing problems if you don't understand that you can't distribute windows OS, even on a livecd, without MS licenses for each copy.
Linux livecds are a little more complex to create, but there are many people making the process easier, http://www.linux-live.org/ is a great resource to get started.
That depends what you mean by "easy way". If you're comfortable installing and administering an OS to be secure and stable, you shouldn't have much trouble creating a LiveCD for that OS with the software you need installed and auto-running. Much more detail depends very much on the OS and type of application you're trying to run.