The Second P2P Deneration Decentralization

The first generation of peer-to-peer file sharing died leaving room for the second generations to come forward and take its place in the world of P2P file sharing networks. Originally, the first generation of P2P networks focused on a centralized server that maintained the data to be down load, while the second generation made room for a decentralized structure in which the files would be maintained on the clients personal computers then transferred others through a redundant virtual network.

The first such attempt to decentralize the network was done by the Gnutella right after the fall of Napster. Gnutella was developed by Justin Frankel who was part of the Nullsoft development company. The fist working model ended up being an almost complete failure as the entire network would bottle neck due to the onslaught of ex-Napster users who came looking for a place to share their files.

The main reason why Gnutella, at first, bottle necked was due to the simple fact that Gnutella made all the nodes equal. Soon FastTrack would create a new development that allowed certain nodes to be more equal than some of the other nodes on the network.

Gnutella picked up this development and implemented it into their own system which then created the Gnutella network that we all know of today. It was this development by FastTrack that allowed for the true decentralized peer to peer networks. In the network, some nodes become super nodes and have higher priority over others. They do this because they then become basically indexing nodes that maintain a track of the less than equal nodes attached to them.

Later, the second generation peer to peer networks also added the Dynamic Hash Tables to allow for file transfers without the need of the tracker file even further decentralizing the file sharing networks.

With over 10.3 million users, not including the bit torrent protocol, world wide, the FastTrack developed method of file sharing in the second generation has grown a quite respectable reputation.

The bit torrent and various other file sharing networks are not going anywhere, nor are they just going to disappear. As long as there is a need to share virtually any type of file with a complete stranger on the other side of the world, the file sharing networks are only going to grow in size.

The file sharing and especially the bit torrent network is quite literally the largest community in the world with hundreds of million members in virtually every county world-wide. How do you join the world’s largest community? You can simply download any bit torrent client software for free. Sit back and let the program bring the file you want directly to you. The faster your connection and the more you share, the faster you can get your files. It basically that simple!

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