Future of Linux Question

[David.Grudek@anixter.com]

Why doesn't someone develop a similar protocol to Microsoft's network 
neighborhood and smb for Linux.  So when you join a NIS like system that 
it will automatically authenticate you  on your Linux network with your 
currently logged in user name and password.  This way people that are 
accustomed to using Microsoft networking could just migrate over with a 
similar path.  For users that are going to be desktop users they are going 
to rely on a gui front end with something like network neighborhood. 
Please let me know what you guy's think about this.