Network File System is still the only file sharing protocol with universal access, says NetManage Inc spokesman Willie Tejada, who claims the company has not noticed a lack of demand for its Network File System and PC-NFS product lines. Network File System and its personal computer derivatives will continue to support the widest number of host systems, including mainframes, most Unix boxes and proprietary systems, he points out. NetManage says it is looking into some aspects of NFS/-Server Message Block integration, but dismisses Common Internet File System as Server Message Block renamed, just as ActiveX is still really Object Linking & Embedding. Instead NetManage is looking towards WebNFS as the basis for what it sees as an emerging new file sharing paradigm. Tejada views the future of Common Internet File System as an internet enabled file system, whereas WebNFS is, in his view, more like a native file system for the Internet-intranet, combining the global viewing model of the Web with the universal file system of Network File System.
