Thursday, September 18, 2008

Leopard and SBS 2003 Still Don't Play Nice

For the most part, my life after the "switch" to the Macintosh has been great. No more antivirus software. No more fear of viewing an HTML email. No more long boot-ups and sluggish performance.

One constant point of misery remains, however...

As a .NET developer, I must continue to use a Microsoft SBS 2003 server to get my job done. Alas, the Mac and the Windows Server don't like each other. Shocking, I know.

The simple act of copying a file from my Mac to a shared folder on the Windows Server is like playing Russian Roulette. Sometimes it works. Sometimes the file never copies, we end up with a zero byte file in the folder, then the server crashes. Kaboom!

This has been going on for 9 months now. I have all the latest patches from Apple and Microsoft. I've followed all the online guides. I have scoured the web for any tip, trick or kludge to work around it -- no luck. Grrrrr.

  • It's an Apple problem, because real Windows PCs can work on the file share for weeks on end and NEVER have this problem.
  • It's a Microsoft problem, because regardless of what the Mac does it should NEVER crash the server.
  • It's my problem, because I'm stuck in the middle, rebooting and trying again and again like a deranged circus monkey.

Hope springs eternal. Microsoft has recently release Windows SBS 2008, and Apple will release Snow Leopard this winter. Maybe then I can truly achieve OS harmony. Until then....

...can anyone help?


PS: Windows Guy: Please spare the "Get rid of the Mac" comments. Mac Guy: Please spare the "Get rid of Windows" comments. Linux Guy: No one cares. Thanks!

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