How can you say the example chosen is wrong? You came up with a bunch of things to complicate the scenario that do not apply to the author's problem, and those

How can you say the example chosen is wrong? You came up with a bunch of things to complicate the scenario that do not apply to the author's problem, and those things are precisely the kind of things that make a general solution more complex. Here, by writing their own tool, Joe could avoid all the complexity that does not apply to his scenario. I don't think the point of the example was to demonstrate a complete and general solution to the problem of transferring files across computers, but a specific solution that solves the immediate problem in the specific environment Joe was operating in, faster than you'd get it done by trying to apply a more complex (and more general) solution. Another point I'd like to make (that the original post doesn't) is that they could easily extend this custom solution with additional logic that doesn't exist in any FTP server off the shelf. In fact I've had to reject libraries and programs on similar grounds; they almost kinda do what we need, but then a vital piece of the puzzle is missing and forking the project & implementing our special sauce (and then maintaining it) is going to be much more painful than rolling a custom solution from scratch.