FTP, Fetch and other F-Words

It should have been easy. I should have been home working on my next assignment; instead I was stuck at a Panera Bread on the outskirts of Houston, sending and resending high resolution photo files in hope that the client might magically snatch them from thin air.

It should have been easy, but instead of being able to access my ftp site with one simple program that the client swore she had, I fumbled with a way to get the high-resolution files past the limited storage capacity of her email. Me, sitting in Panera cussing the F- word between sips of hot coffee.

Fetch, Fetch, Fetch…I kept saying over and over, loud enough for the couple at the next table to give me a dirty look.  

I finally partially solved the file transfer problem by using  the website YouSendIt,com.  The site allowed me to send large image photos, but not in the raw form.  I had to spend even more time converting the photos from raw to jpeg.

Let’s face it; if you are transferring large file sizes over the Internet for your business, you need the proper tools so not to waste time. Most clients have a computer loaded with editing and sorting software. What a majority of corporate, editorial and agency clients fail to have is a way of sending or receiving large file documents, other than though email.

Enter the FTP site. File Transfer Protocol originated in the early 1970’s by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) when mainframes, dumb terminals & time-sharing were the standards. It is a protocol for exchanging and manipulation of files over a computer network.

FTP sites are typically used for uploading and downloading files to a central server for the sake of file distribution. In order to download and upload files to an FTP site, you need to connect using special FTP software. This software usually costing between $20-$30 It is also the software most IT departments fail to install.

The Fetch Story
Fetch Softworks, an Apple compatible product, was founded by Jim Matthews, who wrote Fetch as an employee of Dartmouth College.

The first version of Fetch was created in 1989 and was intended primarily for the college’s internal use. Eventually, Dartmouth made Fetch available as shareware for general users and free for educational and charitable organizations.

Over the years Fetch became widely used throughout the world, providing its users with a spare but stable means for transferring files over the Internet. Features were added and bugs fixed over the ensuing decade, but as Fetch was only one of several programs that Jim developed and maintained for Dartmouth College he was not able to update it as regularly as users requested.

In December 2000, Jim had the opportunity to participate on the Who Wants to be a Millionaire show with Regis Philbin. He used some of his show winnings to purchase Fetch’s source code and name from Dartmouth College and launch Fetch Softworks, so that the product could be enhanced and marketed independently.

The Fetch PC Equivalent
If you are one of those still in the dark ages using the clunky PC, there are similar products available. Access FTP and Smart FTP, are two of the more popular programs.

IT departments may be reluctant to allow users to access outside FTP sites. This being the case, it is imperative that a secure internal FTP be available for those outside a company to upload files.

Working with the IT department beforehand, will save lots of hair-pulling at crunch time, not to mention numerous trips to the bathroom from drinking way too much coffee as you wait at some God-forsaken Panera Bread.