14 DAY TRIAL // Sending files over the Internet has always been a sordid affair? We're not talking about the 200Kb picture of your cat, but the larger files, especially those over the 10 MB mark, which bounce off of almost all e-mail providers' mailboxes because they are too large. To make things even worse, you often have to deal with those very tech savvy people who think that the Internet is 'that big blue E' and here is where things get really complicated. For one thing, you cannot send them that file through mail, but other methods are also lost to you. Telling them to access your FTP server to download it is useless and splitting the file up into multiple archives is an exercise in futility as they will not manage to make any sense of them, so you need some alternate solution that will just work.
Recently there has been a rise of 'big file sending programs' such as Civil Netizen, which are especially designed to facilitate the transfer of large files without having to ever deal with the common restrictions.
What it does
Civil Netizen is a client/server all in one program that facilitates the transfer of large files between you and other people over the big blue E? It is the equivalent of setting up a FTP server and placing files on it, except without any of the messy details. Similarly, for the receiver, it is a simple matter to download the files they need from you.
Working with it
Civil Netizen works with 'parcels.' Basically, when you want to send something to someone, you need to make a parcel contain those files. This is a wrapper the program uses to putt all your files into 1 and make sending them out easier. Once your parcel is ready you can send it out to another person. To do this, you have to send them the information about the parcel. This information is basically a block of text that contains all the information the Civil Netizen need to make the connection possible. This information can also be sent in the form of a file, but the plain text block has so many advantages that the file is not even worth considering.
Once the recipient has received the information slip they need they can start downloading. This is where things go sour. Just like a FTP server you host on your computer, it needs to be active in order for the other to be able to interact with it. That means that both you and the other person need to have the computers on and connected to the Internet in order to make the transfer happen. Also, you will both be limited by the lowest transfer rate, meaning that if you have a faster connection, you will not be able to take advantage of it, as your upload or download will always be limited by the speed of the other.
Practical?
While big file sending programs are without a doubt practical, Civil Netizen offers very little advantages over having your own FTP server with all the trimmings. Granted, it does make thing easier when dealing with people that have never heard of FTP, but other than that is has all the same disadvantages. Meanwhile, programs such as Pando, let you do exactly the same thing, while actually acting as a middleman server so you and the recipient of the file are not tied to each other.
Currently, Civil Netizen is still in the beta stages and parsing through the online documentation revels that there are other features planed, although it is unclear what these would be. When these features do come out, eventually, this program might be something different altogether, but until then there is simply no way that it can compare to Pando or other similar solutions.
The Good
Cuts out the hassle of having to configure and maintain your own FTP server and makes sending files to other quite easy.
The Bad
Exactly like a FTP server, you must keep your computer up and running while the other person downloads the files you are sending. As such you are also limited by the bandwidth of the other person.
The Truth
When the developer adds some new features, this program might very well be worth using, but at the moment, Pando is light-years ahead.
Here are some screenshots, click to enlarge:
