For some users, sending files via FTP is a chore that is deliberately avoided. We understand; sending files should be simple. Our good friends at Apple Computer evidently agree, and have once again stepped up to turn what was formerly a painful chore into a simple drag-and-drop process. If you are a Windows user, read-on, because this solution is available to you as well.

Apple offers a service called .Mac (http://www.mac.com), which adds many additional and convenient services to Mac OS X users via the internet. If aren’t yet a member, you should give it a try. You can use the service at no cost for 60 days. That’s plenty of time to decide if it is something that you think might be useful to you. If you use a Macintosh at both home and the office (like me), it is invaluable.

One particular service of .Mac, iDisk, allows members to share files via the internet. It is not limited to those who have a .Mac account, however. Anyone can access a member’s iDisk—including Windows users—as long as the member has granted you access.

The iDisk mounts on your Macintosh or Windows desktop, just as any other disk, and has an icon that looks like a disk with a cool-looking blue sphere on top (see graphic, above). Once mounted, you treat the iDisk like any other removable media (such as a CD-Rom, etc.). To copy files to the iDisk, you simply drag the files to the icon, and the file sending process begins. You can drag a single file or a whole folder at a time. What could be simpler?

To mount the iDisk, you need a special utility, appropriately named iDisk Utility, that can be downloaded from the apple web site (http://www.mac.com/1/idiskutility_download.html). Download it and install it. Mac OS X users will find the new utility in the Applications > Utilities folder. Launch the application, and type the user name. Ours is “hagadoneprinting”. Click the “Open” button, and start copying files. Painless. (But just in case you have a problem or question, as always you can call me at 847-5310).

Brian Trusler, Dean of Hagadone University,