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You can tell the age/mentality of the person who wrote some of these names as they match very closely with my mental models. An "FTP Server" is inaccurate, but

You can tell the age/mentality of the person who wrote some of these names as they match very closely with my mental models. An "FTP Server" is inaccurate, but perfectly descriptive for me. Scripts is the same thing, "a small program which gets run repeatedly for a very specific task." So I think this is more of a guide for a 30-40 something dev who hasn't bothered to keep up with the proliferation of services.

WhyNotHugo 8y ago
Whenever I read FTP, I assume very legacy, very insecure protocols. Mostly because FTP has been considered insecure and kinda deprecated since 1999, and we've had better things (eg: SFTP) since. So, for somebody in their fourties it might be a better name, but for somebody younger, it's definitely misleading.
- sam0x17 8y ago
  yeah but starting around 2005 if you said "ftp server" it was implied that you would still use encryption via sftp or ftps. Few people will actually spell out sftp server.
- eksemplar 8y ago
  Sftp servers are still the backbone in a lot of datatransfers. Apparently APIs are really hard for most companies.
social_quotient 8y ago
I agree with you and to add. I think of FTP used in describing s3 is kinda like Coke being used to describe all cola based soft drinks. FTP here is a generic descriptor for transferring files, The protocols part is unimportant as is the difference between Coke and Pepsi when you said I’d like a coke. All of the descriptors used for the Aws stack had a similar ring to them with an intended audience of someone a little older and with a little, or more, legacy knowledge about tech. Oddly I could see this useful for two use cases. 1- explaining something to my mom, now over 60 and no longer in the know with regard to tech. Might remember what ftp is or collocation is 2- explaining to an older very siloed technical person, I’m thinking enterprise/gov networking in a place where they don’t get exposure to newer cloud stack stuff. (Banking, healthcare, FEMA)
rpedela 8y ago
I'm in that 30-40 range and been programming 20 of that. I definitely would shy away from anything with FTP in the name because of the protocol's historical problems even if that wasn't a fair assumption for the service. Not having FTP in the name was a good decision by Amazon in my opinion. Now is S3 a good name? I don't know.

WhyNotHugo 8y ago

Whenever I read FTP, I assume very legacy, very insecure protocols. Mostly because FTP has been considered insecure and kinda deprecated since 1999, and we've had better things (eg: SFTP) since. So, for somebody in their fourties it might be a better name, but for somebody younger, it's definitely misleading.

sam0x17 8y ago
yeah but starting around 2005 if you said "ftp server" it was implied that you would still use encryption via sftp or ftps. Few people will actually spell out sftp server.
eksemplar 8y ago
Sftp servers are still the backbone in a lot of datatransfers. Apparently APIs are really hard for most companies.

social_quotient 8y ago

I agree with you and to add. I think of FTP used in describing s3 is kinda like Coke being used to describe all cola based soft drinks. FTP here is a generic descriptor for transferring files, The protocols part is unimportant as is the difference between Coke and Pepsi when you said I’d like a coke. All of the descriptors used for the Aws stack had a similar ring to them with an intended audience of someone a little older and with a little, or more, legacy knowledge about tech. Oddly I could see this useful for two use cases. 1- explaining something to my mom, now over 60 and no longer in the know with regard to tech. Might remember what ftp is or collocation is 2- explaining to an older very siloed technical person, I’m thinking enterprise/gov networking in a place where they don’t get exposure to newer cloud stack stuff. (Banking, healthcare, FEMA)

rpedela 8y ago

I'm in that 30-40 range and been programming 20 of that. I definitely would shy away from anything with FTP in the name because of the protocol's historical problems even if that wasn't a fair assumption for the service. Not having FTP in the name was a good decision by Amazon in my opinion. Now is S3 a good name? I don't know.