The Mac OS, based as it is on Unix, offers several ways to access FTP sites. You can use Unix in the Terminal, or use a browser. The main thing to remember is that FTP is part of the Internet infrastructure and is available to all computers running all systems, and available in a number of different ways. If you are a "geek" and don't use command line interfaces (CLI), there are plenty of other ways to use FTP.

FTP and browsers

Every modern browser works with FTP. You can connect to a website from Internet Explorer on a Windows system simply by typing in ftp://www.nameofsite.com in your browser address bar. A login window appears, in which you enter your username and password. You are then able to transfer files with the familiar, dead-simple drag-and-drop procedure.

You can work in the user-friendly environment of your favorite OS and browser and skip learning all the confusing (to some) FTP commands. You can do this on a Unix box, a Wintel machine or a Mac, using any of the low- or no-cost browsers now available. The Safari browser for the Mac is just as capable in this regard as any other browser, and Macs are known for making things user-friendly.

FTP programs

If you start using FTP regularly and want all the power and flexibility it can provide, you should consider an FTP "client," which is just another term for a program. They are called "dedicate programs" because they do just the one thing, although most do it quite well. Many free FTP clients are available, as well as shareware and retail programs, and despite the variation in the interfaces (much of which is due to whether they're Windows or Mac applications) they all operate in much the same way.

Windows has dozens of freeware offerings, from FreeFTP and SmartFTP to W3Filer and WS_FTP LE. Unix has scores of them and they range from bare bones to quite full-featured. The Mac, too, has various freeware offerings, including the renowned CyberDuck. In the retail arena, there are cross-platform browsers that work on Unix, Windows and Mac (like the popular FileZilla) as well as OS-specific applications. Windows has GoFTP that comes in free and paid forms, while the Mac has the retail package Fetch and several other stalwarts. No matter what kind of computer you have, you can take advantage of the power of FTP at little or no cost, and it is something every computer user should learn as soon as possible. You'll be glad you did!

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