There are ext3 drivers for Windows, I can't remember the name of the project off the top of my head though. And NTFS read should work fine out of the box in Linux, if you want write support you'll need ntfs-3g.
again, I thank everyone for their input. Just tired of paying lots of money to M$ and it crapping out all the time.
Ulfwald, I've had a lot of success just running a full Linux workstation and using a VM software like vbox to run a virtual Windows instance. It handles the sharing transparently and it allows you to just devote the HD to Linux and negates the need for dual booting. The few times I ever really need to use Windows, the VM comes in handy, but I can always just close it. I'm not sure what your needs are though.. so this solution isn't going to work very well if you use Windows for gaming for example.
What he said. Also VMWare has a free albeit limited version out as well ESXi
http://www.vmware.com/products/esxi/