1. Top P2P File- sharing Software (some of them )

2. eDonkey/Overnet Especially popular in Europe, the two P2P networks eDonkey and Overnet combined support a large base of users and files The eDonkey P2P client connects to both networks –the Overnet client is being merged into future releases of eDonkey eDonkey is a P2P network that relies on a centralized server structure, which holds the file index of shared files Unlike Napster, the dedicated server software is freely available and therefore about 80 eDonkey servers exist eDonkey runs on Windows, Linux and Macintosh computers The free version of eDonkey contains embedded advertising but none of the dreaded "spyware" found in some free file sharing software

3. eDonkey/Overnet (Cont.) Due to the fact that every user has to authenticate with one of these servers, the overall number of users is known at each time On an average day in February 2005 there were between 2.8 and 3.8 million hosts connected to the eDonkey network –sharing around 350 million files There exist several clients for the eDonkey network The most used ones are the official eDonkey2000 client by eDonkey’s creator MetaMachine and the even more popular eMule client One of the main reasons for the popularity of eMule is its open source policy which permits the addition of useful features to the clients One of the main vulnerability of the eDonkey network is its centralized server structure Therefore the developers of eDonkey2000 and eMule started to integrate another, completely decentralized network into their client For the eDonkey2000 client this is Overnet and for eMule Kademlia

4. eMule The eMule project started with the goal of building an improved free eDonkey client eMule has achieved a large user base, connecting both to the eDonkey P2P file sharing network and a few others It contains no advertising, and its software base is well-maintained by an open source development team The chief limitation of eMule's P2P file sharing program is its speed: –eMule typically performs downloading much slower than other P2P clients

5. Gnutella A Gnutella client has 4-10 TCP connections to other peers For signaling traffic UDP is used and to make use of the benefits of server based networks a ”ultra-peer” state was created ”Ultra-peer” status is self assigned by powerful peers and provides some extra functionality compared to ordinary nodes There exist many freely available Gnutella clients Some of the most popular are: –Limewire –Bearshare –Morpheus –Shareaza It has the most increasing number of users It has a very pleasant GUI and connects also to eDonkey and BitTorrent

6. Shareaza Shareaza is an up-and-coming P2P file sharing program This client offers an extremely powerful search engine capable of connecting to multiple popular P2P networks including eDonkey, BitTorrent and Gnutella Shareaza file sharing software includes intelligence for detecting fake and/or corrupted files The free Shareaza download also contains no ads or spyware As the installed base of Shareaza client users grows –expect Shareaza to become an even better P2P file sharing program

7. WinMX WinMX offers a large P2P file sharing network and a feature-rich client program that has evolved over years of development True, WinMX has a reputation for being complex and more difficult to use than some alternatives However, WinMX also provides power to users in managing their downloads, and it offers a wide selection of music (MP3) files Some WinMX users report waiting in long queues to download popular files WinMX software runs only on the Windows family of operating systems

8. Limewire The Limewire P2P file sharing program connects to the Gnutella P2P network Limewire client software is widely recognized for its clean user interface that does not contain adware Sometimes billed as the „fastest file sharing program” Limewire claims to offer relatively good search and download performance Free Limewire software downloads are available for Windows, Linux and Macintosh operating systems Limewire Pro pay clients also exist

9. Morpheus Morpheus P2P client application downloads exist in both free and paid Ultra versions Compared to the free version, the Morpheus Ultra download additionally removes bundled advertising Morpheus clients are capable of searching: –Gnutella2 –FastTrack –eDonkey2K and –Overnet P2P networks.

10. Ares Ares is a full-featured free P2P network with its own file sharing programs including Ares Galaxy Ares clients support decentralized music and other file sharing and include a built-in chat service Ares strives to offer the simplicity of Kazaa clients with no adware and fast connection times

11. BearShare The BearShare P2P file sharing program is a popular free software client for the Gnutella P2P network Both free and pay downloads of BearShare file sharing programs exist

12. KaZaA The FastTrack network has only three official clients: –KaZaA –Grokster –iMesh The Kazaa software family (including the Kazaa Lite family of applications) has been the single-most popular P2P file sharing program / system of all time Kazaa is fast and easy to use –However Kazaa software and the FastTrack network it utilizes appear to be declining rapidly in popularity and availability of files Some have criticized the intrusiveness of "adware" embedded in free Kazaa clients Others have complained about the frequency of encountering fake files on FastTrack

13. File sharing solutions Napigator iMesh Aimster JNerve Jungle Monkey BadBlue KaZaA Rapigator Morpheus Softwax Wrapster Gnumm startups eDonkey2000 FileCat Spyster Gnucleus SongSpy Toadnode FileAngel Gnutmeg Shoutcast Icecast Socks OpenNap P2Pwg AudioGalaxy Freenet Direct connect Blocks Mojo Nation Scour Gnutella Bodetella CuteMX Freeamp Riscter Ezpeer LimeWire

14. Importance of File Sharing File sharing apps 5 of Top 10 downloads By 2005 43% of broadband households –Digital photos –Digital video –Calendars –Addresses

15. Netflow Statistics Students’ usage One hour Incoming Usage by Protocol

16. Conclusions P2P connects devices at the edge of the Internet Popular in “industry” –Napster, Kazaa, etc. allow users to share data –Legal issues still to be resolved Exciting research in academia –DHTs (Chord, Pastry, etc.) –Improve properties/performance of overlays Applications other than file sharing are being developed