FileZilla is one scary monster

Every now and then, I read an article that recommends free FTP programs for Mac OS X and Windows. For the Mac, it’s usually Cyberduck, and for Windows, something called FileZilla.

So when I learned that FileZilla had been ported to the Mac, I was naturally curious to see how it compared with Cyberduck. It took awhile to gather up the courage to download it, though. Just look at some of these comments from MacUpdate:

The interface is utter crap, and I would NEVER consider using it or recommending it to anyone. Under any circumstances.

I HATE Windows . . . a lot, and this just feels like Windows.

. . . this is by far one of the ugliest and the most confusing interfaces ever. It’s like a girl with a J-Lo body and a Jay Leno face . . . Please hire a Mac designer . . .

With a reception like this, you have to wonder why FileZilla is being ported at all. The answer may lie with switchers. Apparently FileZilla is the type of thing Windows users are accustomed to, and they want something similar when they cross over to the Mac.

Check, for example, this article called A Linux Geek Embraces Mac OS X. In the writer’s opinion, Cyberduck “sucks.”

I don’t know why the Mac lacks a good open-source FTP client, but if there are any developers out there who could do a version of gFTP or FileZilla for the Mac, please do it! You’ll make a lot of people’s day.

Just as point of clarification, Cyberduck actually is open source, licensed under the GPL. Admittedly, it wasn’t that great when it first came out, but there have been a lot of improvements over the years.

So with all that in mind, I held my nose and clicked the download link for FileZilla. A few minutes later I had what is undoubtedly the most appalling icon ever designed in my download folder. It almost felt sacrilegious to have it bouncing in the dock.

But bounce it did: once, twice, then disappeared. Hmm. Check the requirements: Mac OS X 10.3 or later. Got it. Any other requirements? None. Oh, well.

I can’t say I’m disappointed — it’s actually a bit of a relief not to have to run it. For your freeware FTP needs, thriftmac continues to recommend Cyberduck and Fugu.

Posted Monday, August 27, 2007 in

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  1. It sucks on Windows too, but it is free. Now if you really want to see a crappy program try Filezilla Server. It’s a perfect example of why commercial software will not only always exist, but likely still rule too…

    Personally I’ll stick with Transmit. YMMV

    switcher

  2. That was a funny review – you had me all set up to think you were going to be pleasantly surprised by it. Then the brilliant turnaround to have you relieved when it crashed on load. Genius!

    Stuck on Windows

  3. It may be considered ugly, but FileZilla on Windows can do things that Transmit, Cyberduck and Fetch cannot hope to do. It will retry downloads much longer than the others and it is fast as well.

    trieditonwin

  4. Hmm, You mention that FileZilla will retry downloads much longer than the others? Transmit can be set as long as you should need by typing a number into “Busy Server Retry”. (It seems to max out at 2147483647 sec. which I believe is approx. 74 years) in the preferences. I guess I have to ask…how long can FileZilla retry?

    In all seriousness, I am always open to trying a better solution, so I ask…what is it that FileZilla can add in value that Transmit doesn’t have?

    Dale

  5. Recent windows to OS X convert here.

    This really is somewhere where I think even the commercial OS X applications fall behind the freeware windows apps (yes even filezilla). While the windows apps may not look as pretty, they do contain much more advanced queue management than their OSX brethren. It’s not uncommon for me to be moving large amounts of files to my laptop for various presentations. But sometimes I don’t necessarily have time to get them all on my laptop due to my painfully slow DSL. In filezilla its extremely easy to queue a directory, then move certain files to the top to prioritize them and ensure they get downloaded first. I can also change the amount of bandwidth and number of concurrent connections within filezilla on windows on the fly. This is handy for when the little lady wants to do some websurfing, I can tone down my transfers a bit without having to restart.

    While some os x apps do have some of these features, I’m sad to say none of said features are as easy to use as they are under windows/filezilla. For example, when you select a directory to download in either cyberduck or transmit, there appears to be no way to adjust the priority of the files contained within. Within the queue it simply shows up as the directory or single file being transferred, this lack of queue manipulation makes it impossible for serious users to get work done, and simply shouldn’t be the case in this day and age.

    That being said, I do agree that the filezilla os x port leaves some to be desired, its even uglier than the windows version and lacks some of the queue manipulation features present on the windows builds.

    Does anyone know of any OS X apps free or otherwise that provide higher end features like those described above? I’ve tried both transmit and cyberduck so far and they both fall extremely short of this type of functionality.

    Thanks,

    nitro

    nitro

  6. What a bunch of Mac snobs.

    Why don’t you just accept the software on it’s merits. Sure, I love my macs and my mac software, but I’ve tried both Transmit and Filezilla and like the previous poster attests, it’s not a bad piece of software plus – it’s free!

    investmentbug

  7. Unlike the author, I had no trouble with FileZilla. I clicked. It ran. It had a quick-connect with places for host, username, password, and port number. I was connected to my remote system in well under a minute. I was presented with the powerful two-pane view, with my local filesystem on the left and the remote filesystem on the right.
    _

    Contrast this with Cyberduck. After running Cyberduck, I was shown a “quick connect” with no place to enter the user name, password, or port. So I entered the host name. Then it said that it failed to connect. Who told it to try to connect before it was given a username, password, or port? How retarded! So then, after it puked a failed login attempt into my server’s logs, it let me enter the information that Filezilla was smart enough to ask for in the first place.

    … to be continued

    Fred_M.

  8. … continued
    _

    After connecting, I saw the remote filesystem. Period. No window to show the transfer dialog. Nothing with my local filesystem. I guess I’m supposed to bring up Finder. So I click on the Finder icon in the dock and, zoom, I’m in another Spaces desktop where a Finder window is open — and the Cyberduck window is nowhere to be seen. Great.
    Then there is the incomprehensible Cyberduck Widget. I installed it, and it said “please configure.” The first item is an unlabeled drop-down menu with nothing in it. Then the system name, user name, and path. Where does the password go? Once configured, I was presented with a picture of a duck. Clicking it results in nothing happening. Yeah, that’s all real intuitive and useful.
    _

    I run the FileZilla server on a Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition server for my domain. It’s one of the most respected servers available and replaced the commercial Serv-U server. It supports several types of encryption (TLS, SSL, explicit, implicit, etc.). The group and user setup is easy and powerful. The comment made by switcher shows a profound lack of knowledge on the subject.
    _

    I’ll stick with FileZilla. While I’m sure that Cyberduck is great for technophobes and beginners, it’s simply a less powerful tool. It’s like the difference between Textedit and Openoffice.org when you compare Cyberduck to FileZilla.

    Fred_M.

  9. I second everything Fred said.

    Vinny

  10. I realize this article is ancient history, but nevertheless it stands out to me as one of the better examples I’ve seen of why I will never buy a MAC. The stuck up, ‘holier than thou’ attitude so many of you MAC users have leaves a nasty feeling in the pit of my stomach. If you really want more people to join your cult, I’d suggest you tone it down a bit and lose the contempt: Whether you want to admit it or not, the PC platform has been outselling (and spanking) the macintosh for decades, and I want to thank YOU!

    Ernie

  11. Wow, all I see on the ‘Cyberduck vs FileZilla’ reviews is that FileZilla isn’t pretty. This confirms a longstanding belief that Mac users are all about Form over Function. As long as it looks good, who cares how limited the software is? I see the same thing in the Apple OS as well, sure it works out of the box, but changes that you could make through the GUI on a Windows machine can only be done through Terminal, or not at all.

    Thanks for not reviewing the actual product though, that was a GREAT help.

    Mike

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