Gnutella: Napster-Like File Sharing Network Breaking Down Better Than Napster? Byron Alley
When Gnutella arrived on the scene, it was hailed as a new Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file sharing program that blew Napster away in functionality. For one thing, Gnutella doesn't require a central server--a user just has to know one other. So the attempts to legally shut down Napster's server would never affect Gnutella.
Just as useful was the fact that Gnutella lets you share any kind of file, whereas Napster only shares music in MP3 format.
It's Slow Unfortunately, Gnutella has some basic problems that cause it to use more network bandwidth than necessary. This inefficiency makes it slow. Part of this is due to the quality of the programming--Gnutella was released while in beta testing--but also partly due to the way that the program decentralizes file sharing.
Developers are working to improve Gnutella's efficiency with a new version, called gPulp. In the meantime, it's hard to say if it will die off or bounce back.
