Definition of P2P (was Feinstein)

Tue Aug 31 11:44:58 UTC 2004

>Sorry, was it possible to search for a file from > millions of storage
>nodes
>in IRC?

You could search from what was on the node you were querying. The 
difference, IMO, between DCC and P2P is that P2P allows all those people 
who were hitting the DCC bots, to be used as more storage. In other words, 
you have a Network of Peers, and a system to keep track of and grow that 
network, rather than Peers on a Network, where there was no overall system 
to manage it.

You're also, with Napster, talking about *one system*, rather than having 
to find the dccbot on irc server X.Y.Z that has your file. Of course, once 
the others (Kazaa, E-Donkey) got into it, you started having a few systems, 
and now Direct Connect is more similar to IRC than to Napster in distribution.

I think "Modern P2P" has little to do with the GUI and everything to do 
with whether it's Peer to Peer, or Client to Peer.

Rob Nelson
ronelson at vt.edu