It's with a slightly teary eye that I recall using WS_FTP_LE to upload html files and jpegs to my very first website. What's brought this on? Well, you see, it's 15 years since Ipswitch, the company that developed the popular ftp client, started up.

The web has moved on quite a bit since the late 90s but Roger Greene, founder and CEO of Ipswitch, and his company are still going strong.

Greene popped in for a chat this week and we put it to him that P2P filesharing has largely eschewed his favourite protocol.

"To the people who use FTP it is increasing in value and its benefits shine when you're talking about managing files", he replied.

Microsoft has never fully exploited the benefits of FTP. Greene told us "12 years ago Microsoft approached us via a third party vendor with an offer to use our software for $100,000", a move that he wisely rejected.

"Microsoft are smart business people but not smart technologists", he mused.

I wondered whether WS_FTP would be left to gather dust given the success of Ipswitch's WhatsUp network monitoring software. "We're continuning to enhance WS_FTP", Greene assured me. Good stuff!