Editing 949: File Transfer
Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
The edit can be undone.
Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision | Your text | ||
Line 4: | Line 4: | ||
| title = File Transfer | | title = File Transfer | ||
| image = file_transfer.png | | image = file_transfer.png | ||
+ | | imagesize = | ||
| titletext = Every time you email a file to yourself so you can pull it up on your friend's laptop, Tim Berners-Lee sheds a single tear. | | titletext = Every time you email a file to yourself so you can pull it up on your friend's laptop, Tim Berners-Lee sheds a single tear. | ||
}} | }} | ||
==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | [[Cueball]] is trying to help | + | [[Cueball]], whom I presume is on the phone with [[Cutie]] ([[Black Hat]] shouldn't have a hard time with any of this stuff), is trying to help a friend help their cousin send them a 25 MB file. This exceeds most email programs' 20 MB attachment limit (note: Gmail increased their attachment limit to 25 MB in 2009, though many email programs still top out at 20 MB. This is because every email has to be transferred between several mail transfer agents that each have to save a copy of the email. Space constraints of those mail servers means that they may impose size limits, which happens to be 20 MB in most cases.), and so simply attaching the file to an email is out of the question. |
− | The next option is to upload the file to an | + | The next option is to upload the file to an {{w|File Transfer Protocol|FTP}} server (file transfer protocol, as opposed to {{w|Hypertext Transfer Protocol|HTTP}}, hypertext transfer protocol), used to transfer files between computers on a shared network, such as the internet. However, FTP servers are a touch more esoteric than a mere email attachment, and many internet users don't have one of their own. |
− | Web hosting is simply the ability to create a website and store all the data for said website on a server which is connected to the internet. If | + | Web hosting is simply the ability to create a website and store all the data for said website on a server which is connected to the internet. If Cutie's cousin (CC?) had the ability to do that, sharing the file would be as easy as making a website for it, then having Cutie visit said website and download said file. But no, the adventure continues. |
− | {{w|Megaupload}} was one of many sites on the | + | {{w|Megaupload}} was one of many, many sites on the internet that recognizes most users' inability to host large files on their own, and so offers to host large files, sometimes for free, sometimes for a small fee. The payoff is that in order to make such a service profitable, many of these sites are cluttered with banner and pop up ads in a mad effort to squeeze as much ad revenue out of every page view as possible. It's not a dealbreaker for some, but Cueball seems to think it'll be too much for CC to handle. |
− | {{w|AOL Instant Messenger|AIM}} | + | {{w|AOL Instant Messenger|AIM}} direct connect was a file sharing system on AOL Instant Messenger that was already suffering severe drops in popularity by the year 2000. Clearly, Cueball is grasping at straws here- anybody desperate enough to invoke the name of AOL as a solution instead of a problem must be at their wits' end. |
− | {{w|Dropbox (service)|Dropbox}} | + | But then- the perfect solution arises: {{w|Dropbox (service)|Dropbox}}. A simple, easy to use program with an intuitive GUI that will automate file sharing between two computers using the internet, just like the internet was designed to do. But alas, by the time Cueball arrives at a solution, CC has used a mix of old and new technology, namely the car and the USB drive, to physically transport the file to Cutie's house, thus circumventing the internet all together. It's not an elegant solution, but sometimes brute force is the easiest way to get something done. |
− | + | This inability to use the internet for its intended purpose, is why {{w|Tim Berners-Lee}}, the arguable inventor of the internet (take a hike, Al Gore), sheds a tear: His creation cannot be appreciated by the masses it was intended for. | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | {{w|Tim Berners-Lee}} | ||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
− | :[ | + | :[A person stands near a computer, talking on the phone to another person.] |
− | : | + | :Person 1: You want your cousin to send you a file? easy. He can email it to- ... Oh, it's 25 MB? Hmm... |
− | : | + | :Person 1: Do either of you have an FTP server? No, right. |
− | : | + | :Person 1: If you had web hosting, you could upload it... |
− | : | + | :Person 1: Hm. We could try one of those MegaShareUpload sites, but they're flaky and full of delays and porn popups. |
− | : | + | :Person 1: How about AIM Direct Connect? Anyone still use that? |
− | : | + | :Person 1: Oh, wait, Dropbox! It's this recent startup from a few years back that syncs folders between computers. You just need to make an account, install the- |
− | : | + | :Person 1: Oh, he just drove over to your house with a USB drive? |
− | : | + | :Person 1: Uh, cool, that works too. |
− | |||
:I like how we've had the internet for decades, yet "sending files" is something early adopters are still figuring out how to do. | :I like how we've had the internet for decades, yet "sending files" is something early adopters are still figuring out how to do. | ||
− | + | {{comic discussion}} | |
− | |||
− | |||
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | ||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− |