Ok - please explain what you mean by a “PITA to get a MAC to properly join a Windows security domain”... I have had my little old iBook on several Windows networks with full access (just need the appropriate information). What am I missing?
In a Windows security domain, both the user and the computer have an account in the domain. Creating a user account in the domain for you to log in with “joins” you to the domain. That’s pretty much all of the domain authentication you see happen, and it works pretty much the same on a Mac or a Windows PC. The domain account for the machine itself is the part that doesn’t work right.