In message , Peter
writes

I have a problem with the use of directory, referring to the file
structure on a computer. You see a directory is a list of things with
further attributes, i.e. a phone directory, or a office personal
directory etc. In computer speak a directory should refer to the list
of users/systems/etc in the organization/domain/etc... Microsoft have
there Active Directory and there's the equlivents in other OS's such as LDAP.

AD *is* an implementation of LDAP, along with Kerberos and a few MS
'personalisations' to avoid compatibility.
--
Joe