Filesharing with Max

Hi all, wondering how I might go about doing this for a number of file types. I realize that text files would be pretty simple through the text object --> jit.net.send or UDP - TCP etc. Is there any means for sharing other kinds of files easily? Images and app / collectives come to mind. (Patches would be pretty simple, and useful in my class, but the users would all have to have Max installed to use them.)

It's really not a necessity, just a curiousity. It would be neat to be able to send .zip files with the application over a network, to propogate the files to all the computers at once. Though of course downloading is workable too.

Hoping there's a way with Max native objects and no coding...?

--CJ