Here's a realistic scenario just to make it clearer. An email appending company lands a big client. The client wants to obtain its customers' email addresses on an ongoing basis. They'll send customer information to the email append company who will then send them back the appended files.
Manually moving files is not an option on either side. What method other than FTP do you suggest here?
So, whether we define 'platform' as 'OS' or 'programming language', my point stands: name me one (actually used, not VMS) platform for which there is no SCP available.
I think you're overvaluing what is the "best" method of file transfer. When you have to set up a file transfer process with a client, and tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars are on the line, you are going to choose the path of least resistance. That path is FTP. Clearly. If you are the much bigger company you have a better chance of doing things the "right way" but that rarely happens just because these are ultimately business decisions and business doesn't care about implementation details unless they cost money.
It's not entirely clear to me that an FTP-style upload/download model is best here, mainly because I haven't the faintest clue what an "email appending company" does.
