Q: What is FTP?
A: File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is one of the most widely-deployed and utilized standards (http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc959/Overview.html) in the world for sharing documents over the Internet. It offers reliable transfer of files of any size and isolates the user from having to know anything at all about the physical characteristics of the remote system.
Q: Why is Ipswitch introducing a consumer-oriented FTP client?
A: Ipswitch received direct feedback from its installed base of more than 40 million clients (itself an amazing measure of the popularity of the FTP standard) that indicated there was a market need for an entry-level client. Much of this feedback came from thousands of people who evaluated WS_FTP Professional who told us they would be interested in a solution that was specifically focused on the tasks consumers might wish to accomplish with FTP.
The desire to share digital content over the Internet continues to grow as consumers incorporate MP3 players, digital cameras and other digital media into their everyday lives. Home users are seeking ways to easily facilitate the sharing of their accumulating digital content, but many find the business-focused file transfer clients available today too complex.
Q: How does WS_FTP Home differ from WS_FTP Professional?
A: There is a clear distinction between business use of FTP and the emerging consumer use of FTP. WS_FTP Home has two design objectives. First is to focus on what consumers wish to accomplish with file transfer: updating personal web sites, sharing large digital video and photo files and updating blogs with rich content. The second design objective is to introduce new users to the capabilities of FTP in general and to WS_FTP Home in particular in an easy-to-learn way using Flash demonstrations, a completely new user-interface that has been extensively tested for usability and in-product contextual help.
Segmenting the types of users also allows us to add even more sophisticated capabilities to WS_FTP Professional to serve the ever-increasing demands of businesspeople.
Q: Why can’t a consumer simply use email to transfer files?
A: They can, of course, but it’s like driving a Yugo on an interstate. Neither the Yugo nor SMTP (the core protocol used in email) was designed for broadband file transfer and sharing. For example, you can’t know in advance if the recipient’s spam filters allow .ZIPs but dump .MOVs into the bit bucket. Virus scanning a 20MB inbound or outbound message can bring your machine to its knees.
FTP is designed specifically for what people have been forced to use SMTP for. The early Internet developers understood the difference between messaging and file transfer and developed two fundamental and complementary standards to address the separate requirements of each. The increasing realization of the difference between messaging and file transfer in the consumer marketplace is precisely what lead Ipswitch – a leader in both file transfer and messaging – to decide to develop WS_FTP Home.
Q: Doesn’t a consumer need an FTP Server account to connect to in order to share and transfer files?
A: Yes. Most consumers with broadband accounts have access to an FTP server along with disk storage as part of their ISP subscription. Some ISPs refer to this as “Web space” for personal Web sites and give their subscribers FTP access to storage residing on an HTTP server. For example, EarthLink offers subscribers 10MB of personal Web space that subscribers can use for storage or for making a web site available.
WS_FTP Home is the ideal client to allow users to take advantage of these included features and to enhance their personal web sites with large video files, photos and other digital media.
Q: Why should I use WS_FTP Home as my file transfer client? Aren’t there lots of free alternatives?
A: Of course there are lots of free clients. There’s even an FTP command line utility in Windows. But neither the free clients nor the antique command line utility have achieved the market penetration of WS_FTP. WS_FTP invented the now-standard user interface convention of a two-pane application with the local files on the left and the remote system on the right separated by two buttons allowing the user to transfer files between the locations. It’s a user interface metaphor that has become much imitated elsewhere. In addition, we have lead the way in adding security and other features important to users of file transfer. Finally, WS_FTP Home is specifically designed to deliver all the capabilities of FTP technology to users who have never had access to it before.
Q. Are there any public FTP sites users can connect to?
A: Yes, thereis an astonishing amount of content available via public FTP servers. One of the more interesting public sites is www.archive.org, which offers anonymous FTP access (ftp://etree01.archive.org/) to hundreds of live recordings. Another fascinating site is ftp://ftp.bls.gov at the US Bureau of Labor Statistics which offers snapshots of the economy by MSA in the /pub/economy subdirectory.
Q: What are the main features of Ipswitch WS_FTP Home?
A. Instinctive User Interface
The Menu Bar, Tool Bar, Connection Bar, Connection Pane and Information Window are easy to maneuver and look similar in appearance to Windows XP. The user interface features new icon, artwork and symbols to ease understanding and application.
Explanatory Viewlets
Informative animations provide step-by-step instructions for basic tasks such as connecting to an FTP server, transferring and downloading files and checking transmission status. Tutorials and wizards are accessible at any time to walk users through the essentials of Ipswitch WS_FTP Home.
Fast and Easy File Transfer
Significant file transfer efficiency is provided through thumbnail support to ease identifying, editing and sharing image files; drag-n-drop capabilities simplify and speed file transfer tasks; HotDrop allows file or folder transfer without launching the application; and browser URL integration accelerates downloads by automatically starting WS_FTP Home when you drag from FTP sites to your desktop, folders or applications.
Q. How much does Ipswitch WS_FTP Home cost?
A. Ipswitch WS_FTP Home is available for a U.S. list price of $34.95, or for $59.95 with a one-year Service Agreement. Users can purchase the software by visiting Ipswitch on-line at http://www.ipswitch.com.
