Fetch is a
venerable Macintosh
FTP client created at
Dartmouth by Jim Matthews (who recently won $500,000 on
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire). First released in
1989, Fetch is now at version 4.0, and is
carbonized for
Mac OS X compatibility. Fetch was is distributed freely on the
Internet, and is licensed free of charge to
educational institutions and
non-profit organizations. Otherwise, users are expected to purchase a $25
shareware license.
Although aging, Fetch is without a doubt the fastest and most reliable Mac FTP client. It has a very simplistic interface reminiscent of a System 7 "open/save" dialog box. I personally find its clock-like, circular progress bar to be visually appealing and useful. Although not exceedingly feature-rich, it can do just about anything a more modern client can do, such as bookmarks, extensive firewall support, resuming downloads, and automatically keeping connections alive. Fetch 4.0 has brought mirroring, remote editing, and server-to-server transfers to the ancient application, as well as a 21st century user interface. Hopefully the famous "running dog" watch cursor will remain in future versions, along with the program's stability and rapidity.
Fetch remains the dominant Macintosh FTP client, although other applications, such as Interarchy, NetFinder, and Transmit are gaining ground. I use Transmit, which sports a modern, extremely simple interface, although it's buggy and a tad slower. One useful feature for old-timers is FCCM: Fetch Cursor Compatibility Mode. Yes, it's the running dog. :)