What is the difference between WAFS and upload/download tools like FTP?
First, those tools are for scheduled or timed transfers. There is no real-time version coherence. Second, those tools do not support native lock coherence, so multiple users risk modifying the same file creating versioning issues. Finally, upload/download tools are not integrated with the Windows file system, so a lot of manual work is needed to get the data from the server, upload the data after it is modified, and to have users access the files during the day. The process is error-prone, because it is impossible to keep users in sync. Upload/download tools are inefficient in time and bandwidth utilization, and are usually not secure. Conversely, WAFS is just a series of normal folders on your existing file servers at each office.
