posted
That I completely and utterly hate working with Windows systems. The networking is inexplicable, arcane, cryptic and ridiculously over-complicated. The file-management is pure ass, the registry is an outmoded cpu-drain and the whole thing feels like utter clunk.
In trying to setup a share between my OS X box and my XP machine, the XP managed to kill my wireless connection, even tho nothing I did should've gone anywhere near it. It would frustrate me beyond reason to explain the entire process I just went through to fix it.
I'm currently the ad-hoc sys-admin at my college. I'm also the assistant manager of the college and entirely responsible for the film, 3D and graphic design departments in addition to all the marketing. In other words, the Sys-admin gig is PURELY a low-time-cost thing for me. I have 14 kilometres of network cabling, gigabit ethernet across 190 network points, 7 TeraBytes of storage across 3 RAIDs including one Xserve Raid and two G5 Xserves in addition to three other servers that have their own RAID systems. I can manage the entire network through a myriad of tools from my desktop including Remote Desktop, Workgroup Admin and a command line terminal. Every user's home directory is stored on the network, including how they left the desktop and their application and system prefs and is pulled directly to whichever machine they log into.
And you know what's great?
It ALL WORKS. Seamlessly, easily, everytime. LEARN Microsoft. It doesn't have to be this hard.
-- edit -- Just to say that this is a purely emotional rant about an entirely subjective experience, not intended to be a Mac-vs-PC thread.
posted
So not meant to be. Some people seem to "get" Windows, others don't. I just don't. It all just (subjectively) seems ass-backwards. Sure, I used to be the only guy in the state doing specialised HD Recording setups for Windows machines, but that was a lifetime ago.
Posts: 2245 | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Speaking as a professional Windows sysadmin, I should tell you that we all -- and I mean ALL -- think OS X networking sucks, as you say, ass.
If you aren't running an OSX server on your network, getting machines to authenticate to your Windows network basically requires 10.3. Even then, if you drag files to a Samba share and then access that same share under AppleTalk, the file information does not appear (confusing users and occasionally breaking the program). AppleTalk is a cludgy, chatty protocol; however, many Mac apps refuse to run from SMB.
The thing about Apple networking is that it does not require intelligence or training to set up a network, provided you buy the proprietary Apple hardware and run the proprietary Apple protocols they recommend in the configuration they recommend. In this respect, it is indeed "easier."
However, Apple networking does not play nice with others. In this, OSX is a dramatic improvement; it recognizes the field is there, and has even brought its own uniform. It still doesn't know the rules, however, and so needs a fairly stern referee.
There are only two Windows networking "issues" nowadays: corruption of the TCP/IP stack on a WinXP box, and integration of Active Directory into Open Directory. In comparison, Macs running 10.2 used two entirely different browser interfaces to the network depending on which tool you used to get there.
Apples are getting better; by 10.5 or so, I'm confident that they'll have joined this century. Unfortunately, by then, it'll be their APPLICATIONS holding them back; the fact that Adobe CS products will only run on HFS shares (i.e. Appletalk) is going to have to change in the next release, or things will get ugly.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
Ah. But, see, Windows machines can authenticate to Mac servers because Windows machines are designed well. Mac machines have serious difficulty connecting to Windows servers because Mac machines are ass.
Seriously, the flaw here is not on the Windows end. The Mac implementation of SMB is seriously flawed, and AppleTalk was never designed for cross-platform traffic. When Apple's suggested solution for cross-platform compatibility is "get an XServe," they have no solution.
posted
<offtopic> <for value = "Tom"> Tom, I've sent you an e-mail, well sent it to you a little bit ago. If you didn't get it this would be the third over as many months, and I'm going to request some other way of communicating with off board, since this way apparently sucks, as you say, ass. </for> </offtopic>
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