Return to Sender

In today's day and age, transferring files is a pain in the rear. Sure, there's email or instant messenger if you want to transfer a single file from A to B -- but what if there's an attachment size limit on your email, or a firewall preventing you from sending files? What if you want to transfer whole directories? It's certainly possible but it's painful.

Then there's FTP, an ancient technology that can be secure and usually supports the resuming of transfers. But it still has some big issues -- can you imagine walking your grandmother through an FTP transfer? FTP dumps are rarely monitored or policed either. If multiple clients upload to the same FTP server, it's not uncommon for them to be able to access each other's files -- and those uploaded files are rarely cleaned up, sometimes lingering for years.

The thing is, while they're both 30 to 40 years old, email and FTP do work. But wouldn't it be great if there was a better solution? I've often wondered the same thing -- and now I can tell you there is.

Enter Web-based file transfer and sharing tools. RapidShare is one example, WeTransfer is another -- but leading the pack with ten times the features, better support and a plethora of awesome shiny bits is YouSendIt.