Article:		Smart File Sharing Between Macs and PCs
Subject:		Don't see the point here either
Date:		2004-01-31 08:35:08
From:		jcteo
The author mentioned using shared volumes requires the knowledge of "how to mount a file share in Mac OS X". Mounting a shared volume is a no-brainer. And certainly not any harder than configuring FileShare (judging by those screenshots). Not to mention with FileShare, you need to INSTALL the software on each and every machine you need to talk with. This "article" has the feel of one rather long advertisement.

Showing messages 1 through 4 of 4.

• Don't see the point here either
  2004-02-01 15:42:00  Wei-Meng Lee [Reply | View]
  
  
  When I set out to write this article, the whole point is to share with the readers on yet another way to easily share files on both platforms. While this may seem like a no-brainer to most hardcore users, it is actually a useful tool for folks who do not want to understand the details of mounting a file share, etc.
  
  For the sake of full disclosure, I am not related to the company at all. I have not even contacted them.

• Don't see the point here either
  2004-02-01 08:49:33  Derrick Story [Reply | View]
  
  
  Well, it's not an advertisement. We have no relationship with the makers of this product.
  
  But I do think they have solved a problem for many people. Maybe not you, but certainly others, believe me. And if you had to explain cross platform file sharing to such a person, wouldn't it be nice to show them this article as a painless solution and support the efforts of a fellow developer at the same time?
• Don't see the point here either
  2004-02-01 10:54:51  ra@ [Reply | View]
  
  
  Funny, this is the first article I've ever felt strongly enough to reply on (though I really should have posted positive feedback on some of the great stuff in the past), then when I get down to the reply section, I see I am not alone.
  
  Since it's mostly been covered by the other posts, just a few quick points/comments:
  
  
  This software shouldn't be needed.
  
  You *are* explaining cross platform file sharing, just using an additional piece of software in your solution. The sharing support built-in, when it works*, is no harder to set up than this process of downloading, installing, and *then* going through the setup steps (as many or more as the set up of SMB sharing).
  
  * there are some common issues that get in the way of the built in sharing (for example, default Win2003 settings and the Samba config in OS X not doing the message signing, etc.)
  
  I think it would be a better service to expose these issues and clearly document how to work around them (and that is no harder than your written steps on using ipconfig from the command line). Plus it brings to light the issues in yet another forum and encourages Apple to fix them, though I suppose pushing a third party software as the solution over the built in does that as well.
  
  
  And yeah, it's nice to support the efforts of a fellow developer, but it helps when it is solving a problem that doesn't already have good, included solutions. It is an unfortunate (in one way of looking at it) fact that 3rd party developers will have their products obsoleted as the OS makers decide something is important enough to fold into the base offering. It's happened to me before, and it'll continue to happen.
  
  Don't take the criticism too hard though, I just think the effort would have been better spent educating the readers about what is already there.
  
• RE: Don't see the point here either
  2004-02-01 12:24:31  Derrick Story [Reply | View]
  
  
  I think you summed it up nicely, and thanks for taking the time to write.