It doesn't come standard, not on all Windows flavours. It's a part of "Core networking utilities" package that used to have some really odd dependencies.
You're mis-remembering or something... There's no such thing as a "Core Networking Utilities" package on Windows (never has been) and ftp has been a command line tool since at least Windows 95.
I don't particularly like the built in FTP command line utility (even with scripts). But it has existed a very long time indeed.
Eh, yes, it is. On the Windows 7 Home Basic and Home Premium edition, it’s not pre-installed, and you have to go to System Settings -> Programs and Features -> Install or Remove Features to install it.
I have Windows 7 Home Premium on my Mac via Parallels, and just I just typed in "ftp" into cmd and it came straight up.
The only packages I have installed are "Media Features" ".Net Framework 3.5.1" "Print and Document Services" "Windows Gadget Platform" "Windows Search" and XPS Services/Viewer. All of which are default features.
Which package are you even suggesting contains the ftp.exe client? Because I don't even see one. Also why would anyone go to the trouble of putting a 47 Kb binary inside of a feature package? It makes absolutely no sense at all.
Are you sure you aren't mis-remembering and were installing the Unix Services for Windows, to utilise Linux-like command line utilities?
As the person said above, ftp.exe has been in Windows since the MS Dos days, and is a core utility. I've never seen it not been available on any version in any situation.
Now an FTP server definitely needs to be installed. Always has. But we're talking about the ftp.exe client.
ftp.exe should be there, but telnet.exe is no longer installed by default. One must go to "Add/Remove Features" (or similar) and enable it first. Maybe that's what he's confusing it with.
