+
+WHAT IS SMB/CIFS?
+=================
+
+This is a big question.
+
+The very short answer is that it is the protocol by which a lot of
+PC-related machines share files and printers and other information
+such as lists of available files and printers. Operating systems that
+support this natively include Windows 9x, Windows NT (and derivatives),
+OS/2, Mac OS X and Linux. Add on packages that achieve the same
+thing are available for DOS, Windows 3.1, VMS, Unix of all kinds,
+MVS, and more. Some Web Browsers can speak this protocol as well
+(smb://). Alternatives to SMB include Netware, NFS, Appletalk,
+Banyan Vines, Decnet etc; many of these have advantages but none are
+both public specifications and widely implemented in desktop machines
+by default.
+
+The Common Internet File system (CIFS) is what the new SMB initiative
+is called. For details watch http://samba.org/cifs.
+
+
+WHY DO PEOPLE WANT TO USE SMB?
+==============================
+
+1. Many people want to integrate their Microsoft desktop clients
+ with their Unix servers.
+
+2. Others want to integrate their Microsoft (etc) servers with Unix
+ servers. This is a different problem to integrating desktop
+ clients.
+
+3. Others want to replace protocols like NFS, DecNet and Novell NCP,
+ especially when used with PCs.
+
+