Dear Makers of SmartFTP,
I understand the need for a company to make money. However, I am sadly disappointed that you have decided to abandon the majority of your users (educational institutions and poor graduate students) in favor of the all-mighty dollar.
I have used the freeware version of your product since I cut my FTP baby teeth using version 1.X to learn FTP basics as a poor graduate student. However, I recently learned that you have decided to do away with the free version for private and educational use. Professional software is expensive and for those of us who need professional software but work in education (an area that the government is always quick to cut) it is a great disservice to begin charging this segment of your user population. In an era where open source software is quickly coming of age, it seems a better business model would be to expand your free product, not do away with it.
Thanks for memories SmartFTP, but I am afraid I will be re-investigating my free FTP options.
FireFTP here I come!
Sincerely,
Renée, education professional and part-time poor graduate student.