In the olden days of the internet, people moved files around via ftp (File Transfer Protocol). This was a little clunky, but got the job done. There was only one little problem, ftp passes passwords around the internet in clear text. This means it's possible to intercept a user's password.
This is obviously bad. Depending on your network setup, this may have a very small probability of being intercepted - or a not so small one. Regardless, it's a security issue.
Along came ssh to the rescue. ssh was built to replace the old telnet protocol, itself a very serious security problem. Flying in formation with ssh were two file transfer protocols, scp (secure copy) and later sftp (secure ftp).
scp is fine, but it has limitations. These limitations meant it was virtually impossible to build a nifty graphical ftp replacement on top of it.
sftp, because it's a secure replacement to ftp and has basically the same features as ftp, does allow one to build a nifty graphic application on top of the protocol.
So far, the best sftp application for Mac OS X is fugu from the good techies at University of Michigan. The user interface is simple, but everything needed is there (yeah drag and drop!). It's also fast - faster than the old ftp apps it replaces. Well done UMich.
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