Q: Unable to search network drives with Lion...

I know that the omission of this feature is irritating, but it is not really that big a deal, as far as I can tell.  Take one minute and download a free copy of EasyFind:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/easyfind/id411673888?mt=12

The app is fast, light, and flexible--arguably does a better job of searching remote severs than Spotlight ever did.  Yes, it might add an extra ten seconds to your day, as you have to start up another app.  And no, it's not as elegant as having search built right into the OS.  But if the complaints are really related to utility--and not some weird sense of betrayal and wounded pride--EasyFind, mentioned many, many times on this thread, should really put them to bed.

I  just don't understand why everybody is taking this issue so personally.  I agree that it's a shortsighted omission that smacks of both carelessness and arrogance, but nothing is ever perfect.  I am still confident, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that OSX + EasyFind is far preferable to any other option for me.  Anybody who feels otherwise should vote with their proverbial feet/wallets.

Evan

Easyfind and iFilex are not great search tools...at least not for what I search my fileserver for(.avi's and the like and .jpg's and audio files).  They work from time to time but are not, by any measure, quick(or even quicker than scrolling through the files manually).

I agree with the nay-sayers that this is a problem.  If I would have known that I was going to have this particular issue, I would NOT have purchased my mac(not for 1500 smackaroos...).  But you live and learn

I have said before-this thread, even-that I felt that the search capability was left out to entice users to switch to an apple server.  My problem is that I have not ever utilized an apple server and to test it for my environment would mean purchasing the server, the subsequent drives, copying the data to the new server and then "hitting it" as I normally would.  At least a week to set up the hardware and mapping - espically for the other computers in the house and then the learning curve for the users(Wife, daughter, and I), and you have a lot of effort with what looks like what may be little to no improvement.  It would be more cost effective to put the macbook pro on ebay and just buy a pc laptop.  Appstore be damned...

I don't really search for documents or text files.  So I cannot speak from personal experience on that...

Did not fix the problem. Still broken. Incredible that Apple hasn't seen fit to fix what is so basic a needed function.

Apple are fully aware that corporate network infrastructure is either windows or linux, they cannot expect everyone buying a mac and interfacing with a network to not be able to search for a file, or the contents of the file. They might blackmail me into installing lion server in my home network (a server btw which they have been immensly inadequate at develloping well and where its rack products where discontinued...do they expect big businesses to use mac minis?) or private business by ommiting this, but no matter how much they blackmail me I cannot change the network infrastructure of my workplace, I am expected to plug my mac on ethernet and go, and interface with worldwide standard protocols as smb. And I expect apple to allow me to search in my personal network folders via my mac. What would they have me do, boot up parallels and use windows xp instead?

They ommit core os x functionality such as network search and they expect me to make do with some free software that a bunch of developers had the graciousness of putting together, but which don't work well at all, aren't fast enough, or reliable enough for content searches or numerous files?

How long is apple going to be hiding behind rubbish excuses? Oh yeah we use and index file and creating one would flood the network, oh yeah well without an index search would be slow anyway...

Oh yeah well this, oh yeah well that, and I am sitting here looking at a blank results page and wasting my time in support fora instead of doing my work.

And for what? How long would it take them to adequately adress the issue. People are offering software solutions for free that are not half good, so how long and at what cost would apple develop a solution for this? The net of 10 iphones, 20 iphones, 30 iphones? I am just about willing to buy 100 iphones and return it to them gratis so the largest tech company in the world with money in the bank like I said that could buy a few countries tommorow and still have plenty left can afford to pay the salaries of 3 coders for 3 months and assign them this simply task to be complete.

@evan: Most of us are taking it personally because network search is a core os functionality, and some of us have been paying a few tens of thousands of dollars to apple over the years so they 'd be able to afford to hire 2-3 developers and get this sorted one way or the other. How are we not supposed to take it personally when we take our macbook pros to work, we 've paid oh about twice the price most others paid for and on a simple smb share everyone can search but us? Crap netbooks on windows xp can search a network but our machines costing 10 times the money cannot?

You're not supposed to take it personally the same way you wouldn't take it personally if a restaurant stopped serving your favorite dish\.  "I haven't paid top dollar for the food here just so that you can insult me by replacing the Beef Wellington with Lobster Newburg."  You would just go to a different restaurant, understanding that your old haunt had made a decision, ill-advised or not, to change the menu.

Look, you're not going to find a bigger Apple fan than me--I've been using the machines for over 20 years, and I'm completely committed, with a full complement of iPhones, iPads, AppleTVs, and other assorted doodads--but I think that along with rabid fandom and the famous reality distortion field often comes an unhealthy vulnerability.  At the end of the day, the computer is a tool.  If the tool no longer works the way you want it to, either fix it or find another tool.  You, as they say, are the boss of it.  Stop acting like the tool manufacturer is out to get you.  You made your decision to buy in over the years based on the current offerings at the time, not some implied promise of future supported features.  Whenever someone I know gets worked up over the fact tha they dropped a bundle on a computer (or camera, or car, or...) and then Apple went and updated it "on them" without warning, I remind them that they made a judgement that the item was worth the money at the time, and that the decision should be as simple as that.

This is the same debate that sprung up around the discontinuation of MobileMe websites.  People had built businesses around the patently consumer-level iWe/MobiileMe system, and were incensed that Apple was discontinuing the feature--which they would, of course, not do if they felt like it was worth their while to support.  The world changes, nothing is forever.  I had to move my MobileMe site over to Wordpress, and while it took a few hours to do it, I'm much happier with my current setup.

I don't think your restaurant analogy is valid at all Evan. Our difference is that I am not an apologist for apple anymore, and you seem to be. I too was one of the early adopters of mm and after a couple of years of endless frustration with the incredibly broken idisk that's now been ditched by apple (since they could not aquire dropbox) I switched over to dropbox. I too can adjust you know and cough it up for broken apples features.

Now can you please tell me what on earth all that you are talking about (other than your need to play the role of the apologist) have got to do with network folder searches? Is there a viable alternative (but a robust one not some freeware app) a la dropbox to substitute said broken functionality? And why should I be required to seek a third party app (all the more so since there are non available) for basic os search functionality? Why shouldn't I be giving apple developers (here and in the feedback section) ultimatums from something that should have been there out of the box, and something that is there in every dime a dozen netbook on the market?

I'm not an apologist, I'm a realist.  My point is that we all need to take responsibility for our circumstances, and if the issue is big enough to cause a real problem, then take matters into your own hands and fix it.  Send Apple feedback through the proper channels, find alternative apps, switch systems or servers if you need to.  Cluttering up this threat with your "10.7.5" ultimata does nothing to solve the problem except make you look foolish.

And you are de-cluttering the thread with what exactly? Restaurant analogies?

You are an apologist and it's self evident by now, this is a core os feature that is broken, and you would rather tell me that I personally switch the servers of every corporate network that I log in to in order to have basic search funtionality instead of aligning with almost everyone's request here that this is functionality that in 2012 it's inexcusable that it would be missing from an os, and that apple had better fix it, and do it quickly.

As to who looks foolish or not, I'll let others be the judge of it, I won't stoop to that level and offend you back. I 've already taken the issue in my "hands" and left feedback, and I am voicing my request, actually, my demand in apple support forums.

I doubt that Apple is doing this to sell more Mac Mini servers. That would be ridiculous. I'm sure that the root problem is technical. Over the last few years I reported a handful of bugs and they all got fixed eventually. I didn't use the OS X feedback page, http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html however, but the developer bug reporter at https://developer.apple.com/bugreporter/. A (free) developer account is neccesary and I urge everyone to file a report there. Maybe read the best practices first.

Okay, let's take a vote!  What's more foolish, restaurant analogies or "Apple had better fix it and do it quickly [implied threat redacted prior to posting?] [*foot stamp*]."

the "apple better fix it" rant  is more foolish.

I liked the restaurant annology

BTW...this is what worked for our company..

We use software on our windows server called extremeZ-IP for file access and resources to all the mac users. 

http://www.grouplogic.com/enterprise-file-sharing/mac-windows-file-sharing/

I am not saying it will help anyone or everyone...it just worked for us.

Oh cool a product plug for basic os functionality that used to work in sl before apple dropped samba for their own smbx which apparently is either so buggy it can't acces smb shares or it wont support them altogether thus disabling access to any windows home network, corporate network, Xbmc, nas drives etc. etc.

And 6 months onwards they haven't addressed is issue yet they are touting notepad and reminder apps in the new os via grubber... No wonder 10.7 is widely referred to as vista...

...what's happened to this computer company, why are they doing their best to erode whatever trust most users have placed in them over the years with their antics...

I'd rather compare it with having a car. After a few years you decide to upgrade to the newer version of that same brand and model to then find out that due to (as it appears) a legal dispute the newer model does not come with a spare wheel ... which surprises me when I have a flat tire, because the sales person forgot to mention this, and I didn't check on purchase (the sticker and the flyer didn't mention this flaw either).

I'm taking it personally in the sense that I thought I was upgrading to a newer car with at least the same and hopefully improved functionality. So yes, I'm a little disappointed, and I'm experiencing inconvenience because of it ... but I hope that Apple recognizes this as a real problem for it's users and will fix it. (OK, that's the optimist in me)

I HAVE A POTENTIAL FIX

Now that i have your attention here, let me suggest a way we can get apples attention.

Obviously after who know's how many threads and individual posts regarding this topic without a serious reply from apple, priority one is not upper level users.

MARK AS MANY POSTS IN THIS THREAD AS THE CORRECT ANSWER AS APPLE WILL ALLOW. After 300 users have now credited 300 "correct answers" there is no reason for them to look at this thread and our equally well thought out posts when it apparently conflicts with their current game plan.

Make a statement. Mark all complaints as correct in this thread and lets see if we wake someone up over there!

Notice: this is "as is" advice, who knows what apples real reaction will be. Rocking the "lions" cage! ;-)