PEER-TO-PEER (Leveraging the powerful energy of disruptive technologies): Utilizing the powerful energy of disruptive technologies

Author: O'REILLY
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-08-01
Features: The software projects Napster, Gnutella, and Freenet dominated the front pages of newspapers, challenging traditional methods of content distribution with their revolutionary peer-to-peer file-sharing technology. Journalists tried to categorize them as a branch of uncontrolled peer-to-peer networks. Lawyers, business leaders, and social commentators are grappling with the advantages and harms of this emerging distributed system. But what lies behind this disruptive technology? It is precisely this groundbreaking revolution that has paved the way for a new sky in the world of music and media. In this book, several key pioneers of peer-to-peer networks will guide readers beyond the exaggerated hype in the newspapers and show them how this technology is changing the way we communicate and exchange information. These pioneers are committed to treating peer-to-peer networks as a technological or business opportunity and are researching the future development of this technology. They reveal the challenges they once faced, the solutions they found, the lessons they learned, and the goals of future computer networks. So far, Internet communication is still limited by the flat interaction quality of email and newsgroups, where people can only exchange some suggestions and ideas, but it is difficult to annotate another author's post or to structure, search, or create summaries of information. Peer-to-peer networks challenge the traditional authorization model of client/server, allowing information to be shared between creators and users. Peer-to-peer networks enable users to create and destroy information collaboratively, add content to it, annotate it, or start discussions around it. This collection of essays brings together the wisdom of some of today's most prominent peer-to-peer network experts, including Gene Kan of Gnutella, Brandon Wiley of Freenet, and Jeremie Miller of Jabber, among others. The book also includes serious discussions on various topics, ranging from scalability, trust, security, and performance. It is precisely because of the questions and hopes surrounding it that peer-to-peer networks will continue to be a focal point of the computer industry in the coming years. Andy Oram has been writing or editing books on programming and networking for O'Reilly since 1992. Before Linux became mainstream, he wrote O'Reilly's Linux series, and he has spent considerable time studying the social aspects of computing and networking. Currently, he lives in Boston, Massachusetts, with his family.