This is probably of little help, but I would note that with both SuSE 9.0 and Mandrake 9.2, ntfs partitions are made accessible by default to the linux OS. In SuSE they are mounted under a root partition, "/windows". Quite nice.
As far as Windows having access to Linux partitions, my memory doesn't serve well, but there was some sort of tool for doing just that I once downloaded and used... maybe someone else has an idea where / what that program may be called. It was freeware if I recall aright....
Jon
