I wrote earlier about the difficulties I had trying to share files across 2 machines running XP. 10 minutes ago, I managed to do this using a - wonder of wonders - Linux partition as a go-between.
This is the setup:
I have box A with only XP. The other box B has XP, Linux both. I have a vfat partition on this box that lets me access files regardless of which O/S I boot into.
I just installed a samba server on Linux running on B and managed to access a Linux share from box A running XP.
The amazing thing is that this was something I couldn't do natively inside windows for a few weeks.
Now, the next amazing this is that I'm actually a heavy Windows user/developer. I have worked as a programmer in that O/S for well over 15 years. I actually worked at Microsoft developing both kernel mode and user mode components for XP for the last 6 years. (I left that company 2 months back and switched to a mostly-Linux work environment)
Now I'm a complete newbie to Linux. I mean, I crawl here. But it never ceases to amaze me how versatile and flexible it is. Coupled with Google, it is relatively easy to find information about how to get something working. In contrast, I haven't been able to find information on Windows that easily.
