Hey, I'm sharing a PC on my Mac network. I was just curious why the ONE friggin' folder that comes shared ("SharedDocs") on "My Computer" is the only shared folder whose contents don't appear when mounted on the Mac desktops.

If I create a NEW folder, share it, give it the shared name, it works fine. But for the life of me, I don't understand why the contents of the SharedDocs folder don't appear. Must be some kind of permissions thing, but according to the System properties, that folder and everything in it should be sharing. And it ain't.

You'll want to be sure to check "Share this folder on the network" to see if that helps. It's my understanding (incomplete as it may be) that that Shared Documents folder is a convenient place (perhaps meant for) sharing stuff between different accounts on the same computer.

Yes, I figured it was "shared" as in shared across user accounts. And the "share this folder on the network" was checked.

In fact, without doing anything, that folder appeared on the mac after connecting to the PC as mountable. But you open it up, and there ain't nothing inside. Can't drag anything into it... and anything new I put in it while on the PC, doesn't appear in any of the Mac Windows.

It's really just that folder it happens to, and I'm curious what the big deal is.

I'm curious what the big deal is.

I'm not quite sure what the small deals are either. I haven't really done all that much with Windows networking. But I do know that I'd like to sit down with a bunch of interface experts when they're redesigning the whole networking front end. I've yet to run into a system that didn't seem unnecessarily complex and convoluted.

And I just realized that I answered to the call of "Windows people". Excuse me for a moment. It's been at least a half hour since I lied to the justice department.

I agree, I'd love all networking to be more metaphoric and icon-based. Uh, almost as if a MAC person designed it.

Hey, picture it... something diagrammatic, schematic with icon/pictures of the actual computer models (note: there's an instance where a photo realistic icon might actually be cool)... Then you could have them connected with lines like a family tree. Depending on the color, you'd know whether everything was copacetic with the network connection. You could have a dotted line or the airport wave-graphics emanating from your base station, showing when a wireless connection was active.

With all this talk of a digital hub, it seems to me the most powerful thing in the interface would be to VISUALIZE it as a digital hub. Friggin' not TO SCALE or anything... more like system profile simpler, and with icons. Popup menus from each network component with the more detailed technical specs. But it would have to be fast to update or it would be worthless. When I hook my digital camera, a removable drive, or connect a laptop somewhere to my network, I'd want to see it instantly.

That could be a use for the DESKTOP which Apple hates so much. Go back to the desktop metaphor is what I say... but make it a digital hub metaphor. Make the "Map" of your network the core logic for the metaphor, and the window-based Finder as the way to navigate and get more information about each device. Then let the DOCK function as the --primary-- junk-drawer of your favorites and shortcuts.

Hey, picture it... something diagrammatic, schematic with icon/pictures of the actual computer models (note: there's an instance where a photo realistic icon might actually be cool)... Then you could have them connected with lines like a family tree. Depending on the color, you'd know whether everything was copacetic with the network connection. You could have a dotted line or the airport wave-graphics emanating from your base station, showing when a wireless connection was active.

Yep. The static icon in the Finder sidebar, for instance, tells me that a network connection might be established (and that it certainly was at one time). But there's little or no visual feedback about what *is* actually active and working. This is a complex subject, I know. But it wasn't that long ago when a user had to input a whole bunch of numbers in order to establish an internet connection. Now a telephone number, user name and password are usually sufficient. That is indeed progress and there is certainly room for improvement.

…more like system profile simpler, and with icons. Popup menus from each network component with the more detailed technical specs.

I like that idea. Imagine simply dragging a line (analogous to connecting links in GoLive) from your own computer to a remote computer to make a connection. And like you said, visual lines between computers to denote the status. A solid green line means a connection is established. A dotted green line means wireless. A blinking green line (solid or dotted) means the remote computer is being queried/the line is underway to being established. Etc.

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Imagine simply dragging a line (analogous to connecting links in GoLive) from your own computer to a remote computer to make a connection.

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Yeah, baby. That's what I'm talkin' about. INTUITIVE. Metaphoric. No command line, no typing. Simple visual tools, using familiar Mac techniques, but having a powerful impact.

That's what's being lost in OS X. It's getting goofed up with a lot of SUPERFLUOUS visual feedback, that doesn't really do anything significant.

And a network metaphor could use some of those bells and whistles dramatically. Like how about a "poof" when a device or computer leaves the network? How about remote windows or documents using TRANSPARENCY to denote relative availability? What I mean is, say you're opening something huge that resides on another system. The window could come up slowly using the transparency effect... communicating to you that it's not quite ready to start working on. When it's fully opaque, it's loaded and ready.

Did you see in the new Office how Microsoft is starting to use transparency? It's kind of goofy, but at least it's starting to be anchored in some kind of logic.

Oh, and what about using that spinning cube effect to denote connections to VPNs (Virtual Private Networks)or remote desktop connections... kind of like changing to a remote view of the network on the other end of the pipeline. Since you really would be switching from your computer to another, you could make the whole thing look more cohesive by making it visually change the same way you do fast user switching.

That's a spinning gears thing that is fun, but at least has SOME purpose. But I say, when you do something like that, carry it through. Use it for EVERY time you change the main computer view, be it user, remote, hey--I'd even use it as a way to bluebox the Legacy or make the transition to VPC fullscreen mode.

Anyone else out there upgrade to Windows Service Pack 2?

I really wish that could have been more of an ordeal. And I can't figure out if they simply added Norton on top of my Norton. Is that what it was all about?

OK, Windows is an order of magnitude faster than the Mac OS, it's better on the web. Apps run better, the interface is better (though not by much)... the font rendering is WAY better. But at times like this, I thank my lucky stars I'm not a Windows person. That upgrade was ridiculous. Took longer to install that, than set up a new machine. And it pooched halfway through.

Which means you have to remove it, it breaks everything... and then you have to try again. Insanity. I finally get it going, and (like OS X) total prefnesia. All my display settings pooched. All my hardware drivers pooched.

I think both these platforms would benefit from the Less is More message. The company who hears it first, and streamlines the user experience of the personal computer, will be declared the winner.

Thalo, I haven't screwed with Service Pack 2 yet. I'll keep you informed of any tips or any troubles I run into.

Now the weird thing is,
When I leave the PC to its own devices, I hear all kinds of disk activity. At first I thought maybe I was hacked. I mean, I'm away from it, not touching it, not chucking stuff over the network to it, and the drive is friggin' working overtime on something. What, I have no idea. That never used to happen. I left the thing on all day and never heard a peep from it. Now it's working on some brain teaser whenever it gets a spare second, and I can't imagine what it's thinking about.

That never used to happen. I left the thing on all day and never heard a peep from it. Now it's working on some brain teaser whenever it gets a spare second, and I can't imagine what it's thinking about.

Right-click on a drive and see if it’s set to automatically index the drive. I’ve got a laptop at home that does the same thing and for the life of me I can’t figure it out. I tried deleting or disabling any scheduled tasks. It could be a virus program doing a background check. It could be a lot of things. But if it wasn’t doing it then and is doing it now, and as far as you know you haven’t added anything other than a software update, then I’m stumped.

There SOMETHING TO BE SAID FOR AN OPERATING SYSTEM WHOSE FUNCTIONS ARE TRANSPARENT TO THE USER – at least at the level of abstraction that makes sense.

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SOMETHING TO BE SAID FOR AN OPERATING SYSTEM WHOSE FUNCTIONS ARE TRANSPARENT TO THE USER

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Amen. I'm still pretty chimpy on a PC, but observing all the arcane OS X processes has prepared me for XP which is basically the same sad story. I think it's the Norton security securing itself against the new Service Pack security. I figure I'll just let 'em slug it out and see who wins, lol.

I think it's the Norton security securing itself against the new Service Pack security. I figure I'll just let 'em slug it out and see who wins, lol.

LMFAO. That's a good one.

Like I said (I think I said), I'll keep a long-term eye on this, I'll ask the PC pros upstairs, and will pass on any known buggaboos and fixes. I've got one PC at work that I know is hanging on by a thread. You get some flakey behavior. Not much. Analogous marriage-wise to finding a business card of a motel in a suit pocket. Then it starts to take longer and longer for apps to launch. He comes home smelling of alcohol and with lipstick on the collar. Startup time increases. A certain music-stealing application crashes often. He's always too tired to do it. He just rolls over and goes to sleep.

Eventual the big crash comes. Unless a reinstall (or Dr. Phil) is used preemptively.

When did that service pack come out?

The XP upgrade to Mother Rico's Gateway downloaded a bunch of stuff for updates. Explorer updates security updates it was all on a dial up so if it had failed I would have gone ballistic if I had to reinstall again.

The XP upgrade was not even up to the same pair with a Legacy install. XP was not nearly as half assed backward as 98SE but enough for me to want to poke my eyes out at times.

That is too funny thalos service pack is like a organ transplant. Nortons and XP are hopping each other up so as not to reject itself.

One person I know with a compac Laptop always talks about how his machine just gets slower and slower over time with all the service updates to XP. Another has 2 HD's for the specific purpose of having a backup copy of his system because Windows ME (I think) sucks over time so bad the easiest thing for him to do is just clone the backup over the current system.

When did that service pack come out?

I don't know, brother Rico. It seems it was at least a few weeks ago. I'm installing it now on one of my PC's. My butt cheeks are in the clenched position.

The XP upgrade to Mother Rico's Gateway downloaded a bunch of stuff for updates. Explorer updates security updates it was all on a dial up so if it had failed I would have gone ballistic if I had to reinstall again.

Yeah, dial-up for 75 MB is a tough deal.

Well, I just installed Service Pack 2 (seemingly about 20 bags full). Wow, did that take a long time, even on DSL. What a process. But I've now got this little shield icon in the Notification Tray so I feel much better now!

Seriously, I don't know what the hell SP2 give you. I suppose security, stability and bug fixes. All good things. We'll see.

A little note from Silocon.com:

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Some games that run on XP also come to grief following the installation of the service pack, including Scrabble 3.0 and two versions of Unreal Tournament. Microsoft doesn't give hints on how to resolve the conflict with the games but points users in the direction of the original vendor, with the instructions "see the documentation".

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Unreal Tournament still works find. I don’t know if any later version have problems.

Here’s the shit and shinola about SP 2 from Microsoft’s web site. I can’t find anything related to grinding hard drives. I must be a case of user error. Doesn’t know what the heck he’s doing. Problem behind keyboard. That sort of thing. Seriously...with such a monolithic update I’m not sure how anyone could assess blame if something started not to work right.

And then panic set in.

Gotta go test UT. I haven't been able to play in a while, but I was a class A asskicker there for a while. Almost done with the single player game, and almost BORED with how many digikids I retired on network play.

I'll let you know if it's still alive.

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Gotta go test UT. I haven't been able to play in a while, but I was a class A asskicker there for a while. Almost done with the single player game, and almost BORED with how many digikids I retired on network play.

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Well, I’m glad someone is having their way with those digikids. The few times I went online to play I got my ass handed to me.

You’re gonna love this new trend, brother thalo, although I’m not sure how new it is. It’s the "we wash our hand of it" strategy, also known as the "not our fault" strategy.

After having installed Service Pack 2, I tried launching my favorite Napster-type program, KaZaa Lite. Instead of launching the program as usual I got this big warning screen from the OS telling me that Windows had blocked all access to the internet for this program. It then gave me the option to re-enable internet access. I don’t remember the precise wording but it was pretty much a case of "If you run KaZaa, you’re on your own."

Well, this struck me as wrong. An OS that we pay good money for should not wipe its hands of security issues. It’s like being stopped upon entering a bank and being told that it’s okay if you borrow some money but if you have any plans on depositing any, well, the bank can’t be held responsible for safekeeping it. There could be floods, earthquakes, comet strikes…who knows? That’s what it felt like. It felt like the OS was basically punting as far as taking charge of security. Instead of coming up with a solution it just says "Either don’t get on the internet or, if you do, it’s not our fault if some punk in Jersey is walking around with all your credit cards numbers." This is unacceptable. This is passing the buck not solving a problem. If you’ve ever spent much time with Internet Explorer on the PC you’ve probably run into the same thing. When you slacken the security settings so that the internet can be used in a sane manner (so that you're not receiving a pop-up warning every 30 seconds that you have to dismiss) then Internet Explorer, in so many words, then tells you you’re fucked and pretty much on your own. This is just bogus programming. People ought to expect better.

I see your point, brother Brad, but come on, it's KaZaa, a peer-to-peer music stealing app. Which everyone is trying to paint as barely even legal. Similar peer-to-peers are used by software pirate networks, including those that share Microsoft products and serial numbers. I can see Microsoft easily going, if you use programs which are more often than not used to rip us, or the music industry off, then to hell with you.

That being said, the punt could all be talk. A scare tactic. It gave you pause, didn't it? Maybe it's like the surgeon general's warning. A label, something to get you to stop and think before you share or steal music.

When you look at how those networks operate, you are giving the great unwashed digikid community access to your computer. And there are script kiddiez out there lurking. Most of us understand the risks, and either decide to take them or not. But I think this is directed at some marketeer's idea of new and casual users who have no idea what peer-to-peer networks really are. Folks who simply think, wow, free tunes. Why pay Apple 99 cents, when I can KaZaa for friggin' nothing? I think that's who the warning is for. It's Microsoft parenting. THAT'S what's irritating to me. And Apple pulls the same garbage.

Shows a fundamental underestimation and disdain for the intelligence of the computer-using population.

Still, things like disabling firewalls and relaxing security settings DO put one at risk. You CAN fuck yourself and be on your own, if you leave yourself open to attack. But a great OS would be able to say to itself, OK, this user wants to, say, receive streaming content from such and such a server, but wants to be protected from darryl digi's evil script on the same port... and it should be able to tell the difference.

Instead of the hand washing warning, warnings could offer options to users, and say things like, here's what the OS can do to protect you in this situation, it all depends on what you're trying to do...

It wouldn't bother me at that point to see a disclaimer about music stealing, or the dangers of hacker attacks. But so much these days is victim blaming and putting the burden of crap not working onto the user just to save ass.