1). Novel Netware. My dislike of the current setup may be due to how it is set up.
Everything requires you to login. Ie: Network, email, proxy(internet), some file servers. And I know the mac's are not tied into it yet.

2). I'm just a Unix fan Jason, but I do like the file system better then windows. I'm not trying to trash NTFS, just stating an opinion. I would use Samba as a domain controller and file shares. But I do not think it would be as convenient as active directory. And I can understand why they are going the way they are. I'm just a Unix fan with regard to most servers, I just think they are better work horse's.

I hope that answered your questions Justin.

Dan