11-10-2005, 03:40 AM
|
|
|
Confirmed User
Industry Role:
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Denver
Posts: 6,559
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by KRosh
yeah i started yesterday
did you read the article ?? Grokster was ruled by 9 judges to shut down.
are you new to reading the english language??
the noobs are getting mouthy on GFY
|
Yesterday, I see. Well welcome to the internet. Below is some reading for you.
Napster legal battles - HERE
and a little p2p History
Quote:
Peer to Peer (P2P) Introduction and History
The first concept that is difficult for new users to grasp is that there are P2P Networks and P2P Clients, and these are not one in the same.
A P2P Network is a specific set of rules and interactions that bring together various P2P clients. A client is simply a computer application which interacts with other clients through the network. The end goal is to allow these clients to communicate meaningfully with each other (to allow the transfer of files, usually).
For example, the first popular P2P Network was the Napster network. Napster's client was the only way to access other napster users on their network. This was simple and straightforward. No confusion for the end user. In the days since, networks have emerged independent of the client software and vice-versa.
1st Generation Clients
As stated above, Napster was the original P2P application that popularized the concept to millions. The way Napster worked was quite simple. Napster (the company) hosted a central server which indexed all the files that each Napster user had. When you wanted to find a particular file, you simply "searched Napster". The process of searching simply asked the central server: "does anyone have this file?". The central server would look at its list of known files and provide you with the internet location of the other users who had the file.
The central server model made sense for many reasons -- it was an efficient way to handle searches, and allowed Napster to retain control over the network. However, what it also meant was that when the lawyers came down on Napster, all they had to do was turn off the central servers and that was the end of Napster.
2nd Generation Clients
Gnutella was the second major P2P network that emerged. After Napster's demise, the creators of Gnutella wanted to create a de-centralized network -- one that could not be shut down by simply turning off a server.
In the most basic sense, Gnutella worked by connecting users to other users directly (and bypassing any central server altogether). When you started the Gnutella client, you would connect to a certain number of other users, and those users were connected to other users etc... in one giant network. In order to search for a file, you asked everyone you were connected to "hey, do you have this file?". They in turn would see if they do, and also pass the message on to all the people they were connected to. Basically, it was one big game of "telephone".
The main advantage was that it couldn't easily be shut down. The disadvantages were many -- including slow searches and islands of sub-networks that weren't connected to each other.
3rd Generation Clients
Well, and technology marches forward, as always... and clever programmers found ways to improve these networks and improve file transfer speeds.
Fasttrack is perhaps the most famous of this generation of networks. You may recognize it as Kazaa, or Grokster or Morpheus... but it's all the same. Fasttrack is the name of the network. Kazaa, Grokster and Morpheus are the names of the different clients that connect to the Fasttrack Network. What that means is that users of any of those clients had access to the exact same files.
Fasttrack added a number of enhancements to the P2P networks, including supernodes, and spawning. These improvements both helped searches as well as download speeds.
Despite legal battles, the Fasttrack network remains operational, and is the most popular P2P network.
The Future
P2P Networks and Clients have been the focus of much legal action. The music industry is the most threatened by the advent of P2P networks with the easy sharing of audio files. As a result, they have initiated a Legal war which brought Napster to an end. Since that time, they have been unsuccessful in shutting down FastTrack (Kazaa). As a result, they are now aiming their sites at end-users. The drama is still unfolding.
|
 |
|
|