Ubuntu – Cross-platform direct file transfer across the internet

p2p

I want to directly transfer a file from a friend's PC running Windows to my Ubuntu box over the internet.

What are my options? For security reasons, I don't want to use a third-party server.

Hopefully, it's something not something complicated or command line based that requires a learning curve since I am the one requesting the friend to send the file to me.

Best Answer

Install winscp on the windows PC (it uses sftp which is part of ssh) and set up ssh on your system allowing him access to a directory or share. Install openssh-server if not already there.

And this how to should still work on setting it up: basically you need to open a port, create a user (and password) and tell your windows user to insert your IP adress, the port, username and password into winscp.
Ubuntu One is made for this too.
Do not forget about the ability of mailing it or using a free file sharing website like mediafire. These 2 are very low tech and require no installation (unless he or you has no mail ;) ).
... and just for fun... if the 2 of you use torrents he could make it a torrent and give you the announcement (you can create trackers at openbittorrent).