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A system for exchanging files between
internet users. Although it can be used to exchange any sort of electronic
information stored in files, its most popular use is for sending and
receiving music files in the mp3 format. Gnutella's popularity has
grown since napster, once the internet's most popular source of
mp3 files, was forced to close after becoming embroiled in legal action
by music copyright holders.
One crucial difference between
and Gnutella and Napster has kept it up and running. Instead of a centralised directory of files available for download, Gnutella
operates on a p2p basis in which users can directly access the files
held by other users on the Gnutella network. Because Gnutella has no central
point of administration it is effectively immune to the legal weaponry
of the music industry, and it has become correspondingly popular with those
who belive that music should be freely available. Its name derives partly
from a popular hazelnut spread and partly from the gnu project run by the
free software foundation, to whose open source standards the
program conforms. Many of the popular file-sharing programs such as
BearShare, Morpheus and LimeWire are based on the Gnutella standards. |
