SOLUTION:
#include <IE.au3>
#include <Array.au3>
;NOTES:
;$server, $usern, and $pass are subject to URL encoding (http://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_urlencode.asp)
;the stripping of excess HTML probably depends on your version of IE, I have only tested with IE11
ftpflread("ftp.someftp.com","yourusername","yourpass","yourfile.txt")
func ftpflread($server, $usern, $pass, $flnm)
Local $oIE = _IECreate("ftp://" & $usern & ":" & $pass & "@" & $server & "/" & $flnm,0,0,1) ;hidden window
Local $sHTML = _IEDocReadHTML($oIE)
WinClose("ftp://" & $server & "/" & $flnm & " - Internet Explorer","")
$sHTML = StringReplace($sHTML,"<html><head></head><body><pre>","")
$sHTML = StringSplit(StringReplace($sHTML,"</pre></body></html>",""),__HexToString("0x0a"))
_ArrayDelete($sHTML,0)
;_ArrayDisplay($sHTML,'')
Return $sHTML
EndFunc
Func __HexToString($sString)
If StringLeft($sString, 2) <> "0x" Then $sString = "0x" & $sString
Return BinaryToString($sString)
EndFunc
Not as clean as I wanted, but it sure is cleaner than the .NET app, and it works with both windows 7 and 8.1 IE11. I haven't tested any other version of IE. Hopefully this thread helps somebody....
The original problem with _ftp_Open, InetGet, and _InetGetSource has not been solved but atleast the problem has been brought forth.