News :: 15MR: CC File Transfer v2.5

Welcome to another 15-Minute Review! Today’s application is CC File Transfer version 2.5 by YZSoft—An application to share files with others, without requiring a special client besides a web browser.

As Giveaway of the Day states:

“CC File Transfer is web-based file transfer software, which can help you exchange files with your friends easily. Once you drag file(s) into CC File Transfer, you or your friends can download them using the browser.

Your friends do not need to install client software, and they can upload files to you from Linux/Mac OS as well as Windows platform.”

Quick Pros

• Easy to set up application itself
• Interface fairly straight forward
• Allows for uploads through web interface
• Downloads fairly quick

Quick Cons

• No UPnP support; Must figure out how to set up router on own
• Could have used a built-in DynDNS support and updates
• Interface doesn’t look good in Firefox (Works fine in IE6/7)
• Self-promotion of the application in itself in multiple ways
• Still prompts for password even with free files (Login button maybe?)
• No support for secure connection

Expansion

This application is fairly decent, but has its own issues and has an unfinished feel to it. While it is easy to set up the application and navigate the interface of the application itself, there is absolutely no information on setting up your home router to support letting this pass. UPnP support would have been a good first step to avoid configuration issues at all. Another step that could have helped is had built-in DynDNS support of some level built right in (Or included support for it through themselves included in the price of the application.)

When I loaded up the interface in Firefox the first time, the table was a mess (See above) – Nothing could be done to correct it. I tried IE 6 and 7, and it turned out fine, so possibly there has not been much testing outside of IE for client functionality on Windows.

The web interface has an unfinished feel to it; No CSS that you can alter and very generic looking. The web interface automatically prompts for username/password if one is in place, even if you had ‘free files’ available as well that didn’t require authentication. Wouldn’t have been hard to include a ‘Login’ button for when there are free files available.

An irritant as well is the rather sizable text ad on the top as well as forcing you to host their application on the top of your file list for private promotion of their own application; Rather tacky way of trying to promote your own application by making it appear like it is an application you yourself are hosting. I could see this being in the ‘demo’ version or similar, or at least give you the option to remove it. I don’t mind a little self-promotion, but when it is done in a way that appears like you yourself are promoting it by including the file at the top of your list, it is very uncouth.

Final Verdict

For being geared towards people who would rather use a simple application than trying to learn how to set up apache or similar, it doesn’t hit the mark well. With no explanations of router setup requirement or dyndns suggestions, or even how to retrieve your public IP address, it still requires the end-user to have some technical expertise. While the application shows potential, it is far off from being a ‘finished’ product. If you’d rather not set up a local server, upload your files to a host or otherwise, you may want to give this a try while it is free. I could not warrant paying $29.95 for this application; It feels too unfinished and lacks enough features to make it worthwhile. If it were to gain more modern functionality and fix browser compatibility, I could see it being worth $29.95 to those who couldn’t be bothered by setting up a whole server just for a quick file transfer.

Posted by BladedThoth on Friday, March 23, 2007