Re: upload/download

[Lin Sims <ljsims -dot- ml -at- gmail -dot- com>]

I always thought it depended on where you (the person or item doing the
file transfer) was.

If you're transferring files to your system/location from somewhere else,
you're downloading.
If you're transferring files to some other item or location where you
aren't, you're uploading.
If you're transferring files between two objects that are either both with
you, or both located somewhere else, you're copying.

You could always phrase it as:

"transfer [thing-being-transferred] from [name] to [name]"

and avoid upload/download/copy issues altogether.


On Mon, Dec 9, 2013 at 4:06 PM, McLauchlan, Kevin <
Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com> wrote:

> I usually say "download" for any transfer from a server to a workstation
> or device, and "upload" for any transfer from a device or workstation to a
> server (or cloud, or other manifestation of the interweebs).  So, there's
> an element of "greater to lesser" vs "lesser to greater" in how I classify.
>
> After downloading a set of files from an FTP site to my laptop, it felt
> natural for me to then "download" those files to a handheld device
> connected to the laptop via USB, for the purpose of updating/upgrading that
> device.
>
> My cow-orker disagrees and would say that anything going away from my
> computer is an upload, and anything toward the computer is a download, so
> copying files from the laptop to the device is an upload.
>
> I can see both sides of this discussion (implying either that I'm more
> open-minded than my colleague.... or that I'm not good at making up my
> mind... you are free to guess which of us holds which view of respective
> mental states...  :-)  )
>
> Anyway, I know we've had this discussion before, but I don't recall that
> we nailed down the transfer from a computer to a 'lesser' device.
> Think of, say, updating the firmware of a card reader or a fingerprint
> reader or iris scanner.
> The device doesn't instigate. You and your computer have the files, and
> you and your computer tell the device what is coming. The device can refuse
> (or just not accept, like if you don't press the [Enter] or [Yes] button ),
> but it can't initiate a transfer, and it can't pick and choose what it
> gets. If that matters.
>
> What's the current view, and why do you think so?
>
> Oh, and FWIW, I'm old enough to remember when "download" and "upload" were
> applied to transfers between a CPU and a tape drive or similar. And an
> array of switches on a front panel was how commands were input.  But let's
> not get stuck on that.  What do the terms mean to you, today, and in the
> context of your more powerful/comprehensive device sending update files
> (like bootloader and firmware kernel) to a smaller/lesser device?
> Let's further stipulate that the laptop and device are connected by a
> short cable, so that you (the person) are both issuing commands on the
> laptop and pressing acknowledgement buttons on the device.... just to
> preclude any notion of "us" and "them" in the "upload/download"
> consideration.
>
>
> ~
>
>
>
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-- 
Lin Sims


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