jur,
On TC, fstab is created so you can simply issue a "mount /dev/sda2" instead of having to give a full command. And you admitted that using that simple command that TC has set up the details for you worked. And it works with TC's file manager extensions that no doubt use fstab to mount the drive with.
So why are you accusing Robert and TC of not understanding the need for data access even though we warn of the potential pitfalls of using a Windows filesystem for Linux? Fat/vfat will work for things like storing pictures, but for other files that Linux/Unix apps work with it is much better to use a FS that supports Linux/Unix attributes to avoid many potential issues.