Mr. Scott,

I am frustrated. However, I cannot aim my frustration at Yahoo. They are making an update to their web service that is completely reasonable. By allowing secure FTP uploads they are minimizing the ability to intercept and network packages including passwords and compromise the network. In my mind that is a value added service.

Direct FTP allows the same functionality, does it not? Why then, can your programmer not offer the same functionality for VSD? I have an S-Drive account, I own most of your software, I am a paying customers that is asking a legitimate question. I do question the integrity of a company that has the capability to make an improvement that so many others have requested, yet has no plans to offer that improvement. Rather, offers alternatives that are for a fee. I believe you would do the same, as would any reasonable individual.

I do use Direct FTP to update sites. It is inconvenient to use it with VSD files. I do have an S-Drive account but I manage domains for others for a fee and do not believe it would be fair to charge them for the use of the s-Drive simply because your company does not wish to update their security protocols for VSD.

I think my frustration is warranted. I appreciate your timely response.

Really? You people need to take a step back and hold the right people accountable. Technology changes all the time. Look at the number of updates Coffeecup has provided over the years to their software. Technology is fluid. It moves with the times. Yahoo didn't the rug from under Coffee cup or Adobe or whatever design software anyone uses. They updated their security protocols to address real concerns about compromising their network and their customer's data. How is that pulling the rug from under Coffeecup?

Coffeecup VSD has failed to keep up. That is not Yahoo's fault. I chose to use Yahoo and I will continue to use Direct FTP to upload data to my site because it does allow secure FTP. The question was simple and legitimate. If the same company that made Direct FTP has software compatible to use with SFTP, why can't they program that same functionality into another piece of software that also has FTP capabilities?

Simple question. Frustrating answer.

I'm confused.

I am amazed Dawn why you stick with Yahoo in that case. It is great what a relief you will experience if you stop hitting your head against a brick wall.

Think of this Yes Free or Direct FTP can do it. But consider what a change entails. Re Write the pdf. Pull out the source code work on what can be changed to make it happen and VSD is an editor not a ftp program. Re compile and do considerable testing to check for errors. Then package it all up with a install program. Check that out for errors. It is quite a task for little profit. All for one company amongst 100's.

The fact that these guys hand out many upgrades each year must keep their developers very busy and those upgrades are the important ones.

We all see things from different points of view. Concensus rules

While it may sound trivial, you simply cannot take code from one program and paste it into another and hope it all works out. Direct FTP is a completely different program written in a different programming language then Visual Site Designer. It is a significant amount of work to include sFTP functionality into Visual Site Designer.

No company in the world can make changes based solely on another companies business decisions. By that rationale, if Yahoo decides to charge software companies $1,000.00 per year to license a connection to their servers for further added security, you are saying we should be obligated to do that. That does fit everything you have described about sFTP and why we should be obligated to address this.

Yes, that analogy ia bit absurd, but it conveys the point I am trying to make. We cannot make changes to our software because they made a business decision to do something no other hosting company out there does. Yahoo charges more for their hosting account then any other provider I have seen and offers less in the way of features and other add-ons. I can think of 10 major hosting companies that are even larger then Yahoo and all allow FTP as an option and do not force sFTP on customers.

If you think what Yahoo is doing is perfectly acceptable, then by all means, continue with them. If you want to have the freedom and choice to do other things, then you have other options open to you.

I also bet that if you even tried to reach Yahoo support, you would not get a reply from them for a good week. Here it is on a Friday and you have not only myself replying, but a few others. Now that is support!

Again, you are blaming the wrong people here Dawn. Yahoo is who you should direct that frustration towards. Yahoo didn't pull the rug from under us, they pulled it from under you. They made a decision that impacted your day to day work. Visual Site Designer works as expected and works quite well.

How to reach Yahoo Support:
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/helpce … actus.html

It is a perfectly valid opinion you have and I agree, sFTP is certainly nice. It simply is not a feature and will probably never will become a feature in VSD. If more companies adopt sFTP only in the future, we can examine it then.

I think enough has been said on that here in these posts.

Thank you for your responses Mr. Scott and others. You are correct, there has been enough dialogue on the topic. I like Yahoo. It's worked well for me for years and I am aware of many other web hosts out there. I appreciate the fact that I could dialogue directly with Coffeecup management. You are absolutely correct that this would not be the case if I were commenting about Yahoo's services. I appreciate all the hardwork the developers have done to make Coffeecup products over the years. My hope is that you will consider providing sFTP support for VSD in the future. Have a great Memorial Day weekend and remember our Troops in your prayers.

Dawn if you get a copy of either Free FTP or Direct FTP you can set bookmarks for local and remote folders, both opening together. You will find the publishing is just as fast and as easy as doing it in VSD.plus with Direct FTP you have choices to check what you have there even making minor changes if required.
Frustration and Necessity is the Mother of invention. Hope all goes well with you

On a lighter note, this comment i think is or was the most important part of your original post

I for one would never have gotten my first website live if it were not for VSD simplicity

And not forgetting Scott having to explain to me what FTP was, and how to use it

The inbuilt FTP is aimed at novice users, for them (me especially) it made my website possible

CC then developed Sdrive to make it even easier, and from what i have heard 1000's are now using it

So i will say it again and again CC please keep it simple, and make a PRO version for those advanced users who want advanced options

Does CC's Free Direct FTP allow sFTP? Just curious. I'm dumping Yahoo all the same.