How long has Cisco supported new transfer methods? scp? https? That along with USB ports on modern routers makes getting images on to routers easier than ever.

Router#copy ? /erase Erase destination file system. /noverify Don't verify image signature before reload. /verify Verify image signature before reload. archive: Copy from archive: file system bootflash: Copy from bootflash: file system cns: Copy from cns: file system disk2: Copy from disk2: file system ftp: Copy from ftp: file system http: Copy from http: file system https: Copy from https: file system ips-sdf Copy from current IPS signature configuration null: Copy from null: file system nvram: Copy from nvram: file system pram: Copy from pram: file system rcp: Copy from rcp: file system running-config Copy from current system configuration scp: Copy from scp: file system startup-config Copy from startup configuration system: Copy from system: file system tar: Copy from tar: file system tftp: Copy from tftp: file system