Two men were walking down a dusty road, when one suddenly kicked up a small red stone. It hurt his toe and lodged in his sandal. He took the stone out and cursed it with a passion and fury befitting his anguish. The other looked at the stone and said, " This is a garnet. I can turn that into a precious gem and some day it will make a princess very happy! " The moral of this tale: Two men, two very different perspectives regarding the same stone. Like it or not, Samba is like that stone. Treat it the right way and it can bring great pleasure , but if you are forced to use it and have no time for its secrets, then it can be a source of discomfort. Samba started out as a project that sought to provide interoperability for MS Windows 3.x clients with a UNIX server. It has grown up a lot since its humble beginnings and now provides features and functionality fit for large scale deployment. It also has some warts. In sections like this one we tell of both. So, what are the benefits of features mentioned in this chapter?
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