Sharing Files: OS X vs. Windows
Whenever I have an uncontrollable urge for a migraine, I try to share files on OS X. Nothing else makes my head feel about to explode than carrying out this procedure.
As much as Mac users like to brag on how simple Macs are, sharing is NOT one of the tasks that are easier to carry out on the Mac, especially when trying to share files with Windows users.
On Windows, whenever you want to access a filesystem to which you have permissions, you just enter in the explorer bar (in this case, the C:\ drive):
\\[Name-of-Computer]\c$\
And once you properly authenticate yourself, you have access to the machine. Simple and easy, the way it should be.
On OS X, you have to open the Finder, click on Network and pray to the gods of Cupertino that the machine you are looking for will show up. Once it does, you click on it, and then click on Authenticate, and *then* you can enter your credentials. You can alternately use the “Connect to Server” dialog, but it will usually “try to connect” forever in my experience.
Now if you want to share a particular folder with some users, on Windows you select the folder and from the Explorer window select “Share With” select users and apply. On OS X, you have to open system preferences, enable File Sharing, select the folder you want to share and select the permissions. If you want Windows users to access your folder, you need to go into options and enable SMB. By doing this, you are enabling shared access to the folder and nothing else. If you want to recursively set the permissions, then you must carry out more steps.
The average home user will never run into any of these issues with OS X because they will most likely never have to share something over the network.
As a tip, if you want to have hassle file sharing on OS X, use Cocoatech’s Pathfinder instead. Ironically, it seems like these guys know the guts of OS X better than Apple.