In theory land they behave identically to POSIX. I can't comment on
how close this is to the real world at this point in time.
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365680.aspx

>
> >I agree that aliases are preferable regardless.
>
> Aliases are ideal for making clients capable of accessing multiple

flavours of filesystems, including just about any idiosyncratic
variation that Redmond wants to try on to reinforce the myth that
without Vista, one is without a future.

I like them for 5 reasons:

1. The DBA decides where the database lives, and is free to move to
any locally attached drive.
2. The client does not know the physical location of the database file
(obscurity).
3. The DBA can set Firebird to only connect to registered aliases
(security).
4. The DBA can switch the server OS transparently.
5. Stop worrying about symlinks etc.

>
> Slightly OT:
> I love this one that Philippe Makowski found recently:
> http://xkcd.com/323/

Further OT:
OK, you have convinced me of the need for this superhuman programming
ability. I wonder if at least some of our development budget could be
spent on a bar fridge ;)

Adam