Shared Files with Windows

Question

I enjoy my MAC as does my wife, but she still has her Windows PC. Occasionally I will be in a file and she will go into it and not get a message that it is already open - the same happens to me when she is in a file that I then open. This happens in Excel, which I run on my Mac (Office 2004 for MAC) and she runs in Windows (Office 2003 Pro). It also happens when I run QuickBooks within Parallels. In both cases, the data files reside on my MAC, which she accesses. (I just had a thought - she shares under my ID, so perhaps I need to setup a new user on my MAC so it knows that someone else is using the file?)
We obviously are on the same network and share a printer and internet access. Is this something I am doing wrong or need to check/select to get the computers to recognize when one user is already in a file that another user opens?

Answer 1

Is this something I am doing wrong or need to check/select to get the computers
to recognize when one user is already in a file that another user opens?
The only thing you're "doing wrong" is expecting a permissive libertarian operating system to enforce Windoze-like fascist/paranoid restrictions on what you can do with your files ...on your computer.
Unix doesn't throw a hissy-fit if several clients try to read the same file at the same time. In most cases that's A GOOD THING. Typically, files are viewed much more frequently than they're edited; so, enforcing one-at-a-time access is more an annoyance than a "feature." This is especially true in Real™ multi-tasking/multi-user systems -- where dozens of clients may be logged on to the same computer. Remember, unix started out in the multi-user arena -- and has been playing that game, very successfully, for the past 35 years.
Unix also doesn't assume that all carbon-units are idiots. If several clients wish to edit the same file simultaneously, unix is cool with that -- and even provides each edit session with a scratch-copy to work on. The original file remains unchanged unless/until the operator explicitly instructs unix to "save" the file by overwriting the original. When there's a possibility of multi-user conflicts, unix leaves the policy-making decisions to the warm-blooded system components. The usual/accepted practice for avoiding collisions is to edit a copy of the original -- safely tucked-away in your private home directory.
BTW, unix has the ability to enforce exclusive access, but in traditional unix programming style, most interactive applications take pains to avoid unnecessary interference with the operator.
...Ben Franklin would have groked unix,
Looby