Adam Back writes: > Here's something I wrote up the other night with my thoughts about the > differences between peer-to-peer networks vs the more ambitious > storage surface type propsals and the design criteria which one might > entertain designing against. > > http://www.cypherspace.org/p2p/ > > Suggestions for more criteria welcome.
Another criterion you could use is download speed. Freenet claims to solve the "flash crowd" syndrome by automatically spreading the data out as more requests are made. Also, you have not distinguished clearly one of the main differences between the Napster-type file sharing networks and what you are calling storage-surface networks (what does "surface" mean here anyway?). The difference is that in the latter you have to explicitly inject the data to be stored, while the file sharing networks allow you to implicitly share the data you already have. A note, your links to various P2P products are a bit moldy (or mouldy as you would say). Mojonation.net is dead; the TAZ paper is from 1998. Here is a list of recent file-sharing P2P products and projects from Oreillynet.com: 1stWorks AlpineB, AudioFindB, BadBlueB, BearShareB, CareScience, Inc.B, Clip2B, EudoraB, Fatbubble, Inc.B, File Rogue, Inc.B, FiletopiaB, Frontcode TechnologiesB, GnotellaB, GnutellaB, Harmonic Invention SoftwareB, Hotline ConnectB, iMesh Ltd.B, iNoizeB, JibeB, Jungle MonkeyB, KaZaAB, LimeWireB, MangoSoftB, MorpheusB, MysterB, NapsterB, NextPage, Inc.B, Ogg VorbisB, OhahaB, OnSystems, Inc.B, OpenNapB, PointeraB, Radio UserlandB, RapigatorB, SoftwaxB, SongbirdB, SongSpy, Inc.B, Spinfrenzy.comB, Splooge, Inc.B, Swaptor, Ltd.B, ThinkstreamB, Toadnode.com, LLCB, Tripnosis, Inc.B, VitaminicB, WebDAVB, And here is a list of "infrastructure" products: Akamai Technologies, Inc.B, Alliance Consulting, Inc.B, BitziB, Brazil ProjectB, Consilient, Inc.B, Freenet, The Free Network ProjectB, Glue Technology, Inc.B, Groove NetworksB, HailStormB, JabberB, Kalepa Networks, IncB, Oculus Technologies CorporationB, OpenDesignB, Planet 7 TechnologiesB, Prompt2UB, The Free Haven ProjectB, ThinkstreamB, Tpresence, Inc.B, VeriscapeB, vTrailsB, Zodiac NetworksB, Other neat ones are OpenPrivacy and of course Peek-A-Booty. These are all linked from http://www.openp2p.com/pub/d/447. Not all of these are still going but it shows that there is a lot more in the P2P file sharing and publishing world than just a few moldering old cypherpunk projects from the 90s. P2P has really passed the cypherpunk world by. As far as the economics, one of the main lessons of the failure of Mojo Nation was that Mojo didn't work, or perhaps you might say it worked too well. It caused nothing but problems for the operators of the network. People tried to horde it, they got upset when they were losing Mojo, they would cheat and steal to get more. MN steadily downplayed the importance of Mojo over the life of the project, making it harder to see how much you had, decreasing its importance in terms of getting data, etc. Eventually it was practically invisible. The lesson? Something may be needed to protect against DoS and similar attacks, but it's not payment. Look at how successful Napster-style file sharing networks have been, despite predictions of parasitism since there is no economic reward for sharing. Unfortunately many of the programmer types who have been pushing P2P development also happen to be libertarians. Their sad faith in that ancient religion prevents them from learning from experience. They see everything through the distorting prism of their ideology. If people are going to learn from the successes and failures of the past, they must have clear vision and the courage to look beyond the circumscribed boundaries imposed by their political beliefs. > btw I've noticed while looking around at storage-surface web pages > recently while writing the above that it would seem that some are > showing signs of gearing up for commercial backing. > eg. http://www.intermemory.org -- I'm pretty sure that used to look > more research oriented and it's now looking quite corporate. Also the > interest from commercial vendors like micrsoft who has their own > farsite project: http://www.research.microsoft.com/sn/Farsite/ Apparently you didn't notice but there was a huge influx of commercial money flowing into P2P starting about two years ago. Everyone wanted to be the next Napster, forgetting or ignoring that Napster never made any money. P2P is actually yesterday's news now. The money is quickly evaporating and it will be left to the hobbyists, i.e., us.
