Networking/File Sharing Question

Hello,

I just joined this board today and have enjoyed reading all of the posts I can find. I'm not yet switched, but after reading about MAC's it's probably something I'll do in the near future. I like the stability and the ability to run virus free, I spend most of my days working on unstable Windows systems and virus/spyware prevention. Why would I want to spend my nights doing the same thing?

I run an IT Consulting company and one of my customers is interested in switching. He's in engineering, so the first question is will AutoCad run okay on a MAC system? Specifically on an iBook or PowerBook.

I'll probably purchase Office 2004 for MAC to keep his Outlook email. We will need to authenticate to a Windows Small Business Server 2000 for file access and printers. Can this work successfully?

I've read about the Virtual PC, and have seen absolutely nothing positive about it. Is that worth purchasing? Is it really needed to run on a Windows network?

Any other advice is certainly welcome, thank you in advance for your responses.

Regards,

Eric

windows and mac can fileshare between the two.