The Problem of Sending Files to People
First I'll talk about the problem, and then I'll talk about the solution later on.
Sending large files to people is becomming a problem. When I say large files, I'm referring to files larger than 5 megabytes. A few years ago it was unusual to send large files, so if it took a long time to email someone a file, you didn't really care. However, today sending files larger than 5 megabytes is becoming commonplace. Businesses are becoming increasingly dependant upon Excel and Word Documents. Digital Cameras with 6 megapixel sensors are enabling the average person to produce megs of data in minutes; of course they want to share those photos with friends and family. The problems that start to emerge are: A) Most email providers will not transport email larger than 5-10 megabytes; and B) E-mail isn't optimized for carrying files, so compared to other options it is very slow.
Other technologies exist to transport files besides email. Some examples are FTP, SharePoint, and File Drop Box websites. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. FTP is fairly efficient at moving files from place to place. In order to use FTP you'll need an FTP server and an FTP client. The problem with using FTP is is that most people don't know what FTP is, let alone have an FTP server or client; or know how to use an ftp client. Survey data shows that many windows users don't even know that you can right click with your mouse! SharePoint and File Drop Box style websites allow you to upload files to a central online repository. Then you can send a link to a friend, or link to your picture from a website. A popular example of the latter is PhotoBucket.com. You can upload your photos to photobucket, and then post your pictures on a website. PhotoBucket then charges you based on how much bandwidth you consume by having them host your picture. Finally you have websites where you upload a file and then the hosting website emails a link to your intended recipient. Your recipient can then log onto the website to pick up the file.
All of these solutions have a major flaw: They are completely disruptive to your workflow. Think about it. If you are working in MS Excel and you want to send your file to a customer, supplier, or co-worker, and that file is larger than 5MB, do you want to: 1. Save the file, 2. Open your web browser, 3. Log onto the website, 4. Click on the upload file feature, 5. Browse to where you saved your file, 6. Wait for the file to upload, 7. Copy the url to the file to your clipboard, 8. Open your email software, 9. Create a message to the recipient, 10. Paste the URL into the email? That's very disruptive when you're trying to just bang out a document revision.
The solution: Send-To-Person software. Send-To-Person software integrates with your desktop, email and MS Office applications. Send-To-Person software adds a button to your MS Word applications that says something like: "Send To Person". You click it, put in the name or email address of the recipient, and then you get back to work. It's quick, seemless, and minimally disruptive to your workflow. Sending files to people becomes as easy as one button, or a right click on the file from within Windows explorer to see the Send To menu choice.
Many products are starting to pop up and articles about them are starting to surface in popular computing magazines. I'm working with a friend to launch one, the web client is available now and by the time you read this the downloadable integrated desktop software will probably already be available. If you'd like to try it out, visit www.SendToPerson.com and try the service for free.