The Mac and PC networking challenge is legendary. If you have both on a home or work network, it can be an adventure to get these two machines to see each other, share files or printers. Fortunately, Pure Networks has an app for both Mac and PC called Network Magic which hopes to change all that, as it allows you to easily set up file and printer sharing, diagnose slow networks and more. It offers what looks like a simple interface for managing all this, though I should note that printer sharing only works with the list of printers that Apple officially supports and provides drivers for right in Mac OS X (i.e. - if you can plug a printer in and it works without having to install extra software). While the Windows version is a bit more powerful than the Mac component, folks who need to maintain a mixed network and are after the primary features mentioned here will likely be happy with Network Magic, though licenses are sold at a slight disadvantage for Mac users: packages of licenses begin at $29.99 for 3 PCs (5 PCs for $39.99, etc.), but it's $19.99 for each Mac you want to add to the package. Still, Network Magic looks like one of the easiest networking tools I've seen in a while, and perhaps if its popularity among Mac users grows over time, licensing can become more fair for both operating systems.
[via MacMinute]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-28-2007 @ 12:54PM
NutMac said...
Legendary? Sharing files and printers between Mac and PC may not be super easy, but certainly easy enough. All it takes is few clicks in System Preferences. Gets even easier on Leopard.
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8-28-2007 @ 1:26PM
bananahead said...
You kidding? It is WAY hard on XP, almost impossible on Vista. Maybe easy for technoheads, not for normal people.
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8-28-2007 @ 2:41PM
marcosmalo said...
NutMac,
Apparently it's become a whole lot harder with Vista, even with other Win computers. I don't think this company would be in business if there wasn't a need, anyway. I don't currently have any WinPCs on my home network, so I can't try out the demo and I don't know if they will be offering a Mac standalone app in the future, so for now I don't have much use for this.
And yes, I know that you can do everything without this program. The point of software like this is that pulls everything together in one place and (hopefully) with an easy to use interface.
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8-28-2007 @ 3:38PM
Martin said...
Came with my ZyXEL router, i've been using it ever since.
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8-28-2007 @ 6:01PM
pangelav said...
We used this on our network of pc's and macs for nearly 8 months, but have removed it recently. The beta on the Macs was quite buggy, and support is minimal at best. Sharing isn't very difficult, and like someone else suggested--wait for Leopard! Make sure you test it before buying, too. This is probably good for completely network illiterates, but not for everyone else.
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8-29-2007 @ 12:45AM
Adriel Kloppenburg said...
So where do you download it?
I used to have the beta version for the mac, but now I have been on the download site on there site but it download the windows version :(
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8-29-2007 @ 8:21AM
Wissig said...
Why would people use a PC?
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