Windows libraries

Windows libraries have come a long way since their inception. We're at the point now where they can easily include features such as federated search, indexing, and searching for media that is on servers or home computers. There is a lot of flexibility here for the enterprise to present corporate data assets in logical methods other than "My data is on G:" and so forth.

You can even implement folder redirection for known folders in libraries. It's important to tread carefully here though, as slow performance can be encountered with folder redirection implemented badly. The capability of a central rollout of library configuration is done with a library description file and is managed in an XML schema file.

There are still some restrictions in place: no files hosted in Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft SharePoint, no files on NAS devices, and no DFS hosted files.