5 ms·

I'm not sure what their 6 recommendations were for preparing for the transition, and I'm unwilling to pay $499 to find out, but I hope one of them deals with th

I'm not sure what their 6 recommendations were for preparing for the transition, and I'm unwilling to pay $499 to find out, but I hope one of them deals with the horrible pain in the ass that is Windows File Sharing. Macs really do not like Windows shares, whether in an AD context or a workgroup context. While some seem to work without any trouble, others have frequent issues with logging in, with browsing, with refreshing, with permissions. It's very frustrating for the users, and frustrating for those in IT support positions who are faced with annoyed users on one side and inscrutable black box magic on the other.

Samuel_Michon 15y ago
My experience has been that Windows doesn't really like Windows shares either. Ever tried to create a network with a few Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows 7 computers? I couldn't get it to work. Instead, now those Windows machines simply access my WebDAV running on Mac Lion Server.
- smithian 15y ago
  You're kidding right? Windows file sharing is trivial to set up.
  - Samuel_Michon 15y ago
    Between different versions of Windows? No, it isn't.
    - smithian 15y ago
      Well, certainly between anything that owes its heritage to NT it is. I have win2000, 2003, XP, and 7 all playing very nicely together, and I cannot recall any issues with setup or maintenance. Compare that with getting a Mac to print to any printer that wasn't specifically designed with macs in mind... torture.
      - Samuel_Michon 15y ago
        Which printer manufacturers don't make drivers for Macs? I don't know of any. Even really old printers from the pre-OS X era work fine, because of CUPS and Gutenprint. It's plug and play, the drivers are downloaded automagically. http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3669#Gutenprint http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3669#Gutenprint
        smithian 15y ago
        The ones that I have had the most "See Note 7"* moments with have been large multifunction workgroup printers that you would find in any office - of varying manufacturers. these printers all claim to have mac drivers, and generally these claims are terrible, terrible lies. *Note 7: This will not work.
        yardie 15y ago
        Completely agree. One color laser MFC we recently replaced had a scanner that could only be used over the USB port for Macs but over ethernet for Windows. The workaround we found was scan to email which tended to be more reliable for Mac and Windows. Now we have a new hotrod HP MFC that does everything and supports iOS and Android. It was also 1/3 the price.
        Samuel_Michon 15y ago
        Em, parent was talking about printing, not scanning... I have yet to use a printer that OS X Lion can't find a driver for.
        yardie 15y ago
        The parent was talking about the MF part of a MFC printer being nonexistant for the Mac. Hell any printer with a USB port will work on a Mac. Any $50 printer can do that. But when you spend $200+ on a network MFC most come up short on the Mac side.
- sk5t 15y ago
  I'll have some of what you're smoking, while choosing CIFS in reality every time given this choice. WebDAV is a wretched, bulky protocol, and the world has been letting it die out for at least six years now.

Samuel_Michon 15y ago

My experience has been that Windows doesn't really like Windows shares either. Ever tried to create a network with a few Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows 7 computers? I couldn't get it to work. Instead, now those Windows machines simply access my WebDAV running on Mac Lion Server.

smithian 15y ago
You're kidding right? Windows file sharing is trivial to set up.
- Samuel_Michon 15y ago
  Between different versions of Windows? No, it isn't.
  - smithian 15y ago
    Well, certainly between anything that owes its heritage to NT it is. I have win2000, 2003, XP, and 7 all playing very nicely together, and I cannot recall any issues with setup or maintenance. Compare that with getting a Mac to print to any printer that wasn't specifically designed with macs in mind... torture.
    - Samuel_Michon 15y ago
      Which printer manufacturers don't make drivers for Macs? I don't know of any. Even really old printers from the pre-OS X era work fine, because of CUPS and Gutenprint. It's plug and play, the drivers are downloaded automagically. http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3669#Gutenprint http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3669#Gutenprint
      - smithian 15y ago
        The ones that I have had the most "See Note 7"* moments with have been large multifunction workgroup printers that you would find in any office - of varying manufacturers. these printers all claim to have mac drivers, and generally these claims are terrible, terrible lies. *Note 7: This will not work.
        yardie 15y ago
        Completely agree. One color laser MFC we recently replaced had a scanner that could only be used over the USB port for Macs but over ethernet for Windows. The workaround we found was scan to email which tended to be more reliable for Mac and Windows. Now we have a new hotrod HP MFC that does everything and supports iOS and Android. It was also 1/3 the price.
        Samuel_Michon 15y ago
        Em, parent was talking about printing, not scanning... I have yet to use a printer that OS X Lion can't find a driver for.
        yardie 15y ago
        The parent was talking about the MF part of a MFC printer being nonexistant for the Mac. Hell any printer with a USB port will work on a Mac. Any $50 printer can do that. But when you spend $200+ on a network MFC most come up short on the Mac side.
sk5t 15y ago
I'll have some of what you're smoking, while choosing CIFS in reality every time given this choice. WebDAV is a wretched, bulky protocol, and the world has been letting it die out for at least six years now.