Discovering P2P

Peer to Peer: Groundbreaking, Controversial, and Still Growing

Not every "next big thing" has lived up to its promise, but the technologies comprising peer-to-peer computing are definitely here to stay. Inside, Michael Miller walks you through this still-burgeoning field, showing you where it's come from and where it's headed. In between, he looks closely at P2P's current representatives, including Napster, Aimster, and SETI@home, drawing from their successes and controversies to paint a vivid picture of a diverse set of applications that continue to change the way the world thinks about computing.

Delve into every aspect of the P2P revolution:

• File-sharing
• Collaboration
• Communication
• Distributed computing
• Applications development

• Gnutella
• Napster
• Aimster
• Instant messaging
• SETI@home
• Microsoft's .NET initiative

… as well as P2P's origins and future directions

Contents

Introduction

Part I • Understanding the P2P Revolution
Chapter 1 • Why P2P Will Be Important to You
Chapter 2 • What P2P Is—and What It Isn't
Chapter 3 • The Many Applications of P2P
Chapter 4 • Who Profits from P2P—and Who Doesn't
Chapter 5 • P2P Privacy and Security
Chapter 6 • P2P and Intellectual Property
Chapter 7 • Issues and Obstacles

Part II • P2P File Sharing
Chapter 8 • Understanding P2P File Sharing
Chapter 9 • The Napster Story
Chapter 10 • The Gnutella Network: The Next Napster?
Chapter 11 • Aimster: File Sharing via Instant Messaging
Chapter 12 • The KaZaA/MusicCity Network
Chapter 13 • Audiogalaxy and Other Media-Sharing Services
Chapter 14 • Freenet: A Different Kind of File-Sharing Service
Chapter 15 • Harvesting the Hidden Internet with Distributed Search Engines

Part III • P2P Communications
Chapter 16 • Understanding P2P Communications
Chapter 17 • AIM, Windows Messenger, and Other IM Services
Chapter 18 • Internet Telephony and Video Conferencing

Part IV • P2P Collaboration
Chapter 19 • Understanding P2P Collaboration
Chapter 20 • Collaborating with Microsoft
Chapter 21 • Groove Networks and Other P2P Groupware
Chapter 22 • P2P Gaming
Chapter 23 • The Writeable Web and Other P2P Collaborative Applications

Part V • P2P Distributed Computing
Chapter 24 • Understanding P2P Distributed Computing
Chapter 25 • Distributed Computing in Action: SETI@home
Chapter 26 • Distributed Computing Applications

Part VI • P2P Applications Development
Chapter 27 • Understanding P2P Applications Development
Chapter 28 • Sun: JXTA, Jini, and Java
Chapter 29 • Microsoft: .NET
Chapter 30 • Other P2P Development Tools

Appendix • P2P Resources

Index