Best document sharing system?

[ematters]

First post here!!

I have a particular request, does any of you know which software / system would be the best to share documents with other people. The requirements are a bit special:

- The idea is to setup a small private network to share documents. For example, I subscribe to a few paid newsletters, and would like to share them with other people who pay for similar services. Knowledge is power, but knowledge is expensive in this case ;-)
- Has to be very easy to use because "old people" will be using it :)
- Peer-to-peer is preffered for anonymity (is that a word lol). I've tried a few web server apps before but I don't like the way they work (doesn't work like peer-to-peer anyways, more like centralized server)
- Nice thing with peer-to-peer is that you have access to the 'master' document list but documents don't have to sit on your computer. This allows on-demand download (whereas with a webserver you can't do this).
- Other benefit is to avoid having a centralized server (difference with ftp or http). I prefer this for liabilities otherwise one person has to take on all the risk ;)
- Comments / categorization / rating : That would be awesome. It's nice to post summaries / abstracts for others.
- File size is typically small (a few megs only), so there doesn't need to be torrent-like technology, simple file download is fine.

Basicly I want to setup this semi-private network (possibly restrict access by password or something or to select members on invite basis) because I'm scared of the legal / copyright issues. Especially that the kind of document I want to exchange are highly priced and don't want it to be too widespread...

Any ideas? I already thought of normal filesharing softwares like Shareaza or BitTorrent, but I'd like something simpler / more document oriented. Maybe there's something similar for eBooks already?

Also, pardon my noobness if that's the case, I don't know much about filesharing myself...

[Sparky9]

W.A.S.T.E. (http://waste.sourceforge.net/) behaves similarly to a virtual private network by connecting to a group of trusted computers, as determined by the users, however this kind of network is commonly referred to as a Darknet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darknet). It employs heavy encryption to ensure that third parties cannot decipher the messages being transferred. The same encryption is used to transmit and receive instant messages, chat, and files, maintain the connection, and browse and search. There is also an optional "Saturate" feature which adds random traffic, making traffic analysis more difficult. The nodes (each a trusted connection) automatically determine the lowest latency route for traffic and, in doing so, load balance. This also improves privacy, because packets often take different routes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W.A.S.T.E.

you could even make pre-setup installers for each user to simplify setup

[Dark Messenger]

you could even make pre-setup installers for each user to simplify setup

how would you do that? make each user show up as 'rocklobster' or something?

[Sparky9]

how would you do that? make each user show up as 'rocklobster' or something?
no, just do a setup complete with unique private keys and usernames (include your public key in it) then make a winrar self-installer out of the directory
then make new keys and usernames for each installer
you might want to add their public keys to your waste, and you'll have to get them to put in your IP to connect to

[Dark Messenger]

no, just do a setup complete with unique private keys and usernames (include your public key in it) then make a winrar self-installer out of the directory
then make new keys and usernames for each installer
you might want to add their public keys to your waste, and you'll have to get them to put in your IP to connect to

Excellent...we may be able to get Mels_Smiley on this thing afterall. :icon_rr: :icon_thum :icon_rabb

[ematters]

Thanks for the suggestions. WASTE definitely fits the privacy requirement, but not the usability part. I haven't got to try it out with another computer (transferring files and such) yet though.

On the other hand the most usable I've found so far is TribalWeb. The interface is very easy to understand. One thing that doesn't seem to work though is searching for files through all users, but it works if you search on a particular user. Looks like a bug rather than a 'feature'...

[shallowhall]

Thanks for the suggestions. WASTE definitely fits the privacy requirement, but not the usability part. I haven't got to try it out with another computer (transferring files and such) yet though.

On the other hand the most usable I've found so far is TribalWeb. The interface is very easy to understand. One thing that doesn't seem to work though is searching for files through all users, but it works if you search on a particular user. Looks like a bug rather than a 'feature'...
To share one on one, you can use www.pando.com it is great.

[ematters]

Pando looks interesting, but doesn't completely fill the bill either. It's well adapted for transferring files 1 to 1 with email, but I'd like to get something with a bit more brains (like being able to categorize, list, sort and rate all content). Also I want people to be able to subscribe to a network once and then not have to bother with who I send stuff to (in this case a bit like pando on a mailing list or something...).

Thanks, keep em coming, I'm sure there is something like this out there!!

[ematters]

I guess to put it another way I'm looking for something that fills the gap between a file downloading web portal/CMS and a peer-to-peer file sharing tool. The best of boths would be:
- Centralized catalog of files or search of files available for users
- Un-centralized storage of files (preferrably through peer-to-peer or synchronization mechanism)
- Ease of viewing files just like viewing them in explorer. Example I see a PDF document in the list, I double click to view it or I can right click and download it...
- Users can subscribe or be invited into a private group (instead of pushing content to people)
- Secure and mostly anonymous, doesn't keep trails of IP addresses or who downloaded what
- Ability to categorize (tag maybe?) comment and rate files and potentially view some statistics (most popular, etc)
- Ability for users to upload files (or put another to share their own files to this list)
- Oh also most important of all ease of use. So many file sharing tools seem to take for granted users are geeks who know everything about the technology ("torrents", etc). I'm dealing with an older group of people and am sure they would be daunted about using a software like azureus or shareazza...

I'm sure people sharing eBooks have similar requirements...

I've just tried another one called Syncura, not bad at all but more aimed at online collaboration (you create "teams" and share documents that sync with other users' documents).

[eivioolla]

http://www.alliancep2p.com/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/alliancep2p/

Obviously doesn't fill your extensive requirements, but is a simple to use, decentralized, secure P2P with search.

[ematters]

Thanks! Well it's fairly new (still beta) and in active development... I'm giving a try right now. All the social bookmarking stuff I talked about is optional, I don't really expect this, but who knows better ask :)

[ematters]

Their home page doesn't work. Then I went to SourceForge, downloaded the latest stable version but can't get it to work. Am I missing something?!? :) Its a bummer cause it looks decently good, was willing to try it... What version are you using eivioolla? I'm trying 0.8.30 right now, I added a few shared folders, try running a search for files but nothing comes up (even after indexing is done). Looks like there's a bug or something...

[eivioolla]

Their home page doesn't work. Then I went to SourceForge, downloaded the latest stable version but can't get it to work. Am I missing something?!? :) Its a bummer cause it looks decently good, was willing to try it... What version are you using eivioolla? I'm trying 0.8.30 right now, I added a few shared folders, try running a search for files but nothing comes up (even after indexing is done). Looks like there's a bug or something...

I'm using the same version. I think it's just that you can't search your own files. Try connecting to someone first. If you think searching your own files is needed, leave a feature request in source forge and maybe the dev will add it to the future versions. Yes the homepage was down now, it has worked well in the past so it's probably just temporary. Nevertheless, most of the action is in sourceforge anyway. :)

For me this program is exactly what I've been looking for. WASTE was the only option before but it's UI and useability sucked. Most "private" P2P apps seemed to connect to some central server which I don't like.

[ematters]

Ok thanks a lot, I had a hunch it was something like that lol. Yea searching your own files is probably useful, at least to do a quick test ;-)

It's like ping 127.0.0.1, you don't really need it but it feels reassuring :)

[ematters]

Ok I found my solution, it's called FolderShare (I've found some posts here about this). It doesn't cover all the requirements I had, but 95% of them so I'm pretty happy still. In particular:
- It very easy to install
- Quite easy to use
- Uses P2P and files don't go through a central server
- It's designed for private groups mostly (as opposed to open public networks like gnutella, etc)
- Even better than most P2P programs for private groups it synchronizes folders between clients (on demand or automatic)
- It's very small 600k, doesn't seem to chew up resources at all.
- It provides no special interface to browse files, but you don't need anyways since it uses normal windows folders. You just have to select which folders you want to share and invite people who you want to share with in your private group
- It has a simple but yet useful message board (I wonder where it stores the data though, locally or on their server?).
- I wouldn't describe it as highly secure (as in you leave no traces at all so I wouldn't recommend it to exchange high volumes of copyrighted material. For my case though I plan on mostly sharing documents & ebooks so I'm not really concerned that much. It does encrypt file transfers though.
- It's free.

The only CON is that their company was bought by MicroSoft, so I wonder how it's future is going to be (probably big and bloated). Anyways, as long as they don't REQUIRE me to update to something worse I'm ok with that...

Thanks to all for the help still!

[ematters]

Oh also another note, I've installed this software at my work also, I use it to send backups over the internet. It's another great use since it all happens transparently (the synchronization). All I have to do is configure my backup folder to be shared and sync'ed with my remote storage.

[eivioolla]

Doesn't it connect to a central server and you don't know what information it sends there? Also it's not free right? Well, good luck anyway, I hope M$ doesn't collect too extensive database of your file trading habits. ;)

[ematters]

Yes it does connect to a central server to link users together. You might be right on them collecting information, and like I said I wouldn't trust this if ur paranoid about security. In my case it's not the highest concern. I've chatted over emails with them and they assured me that they weren't collecting any information as to what files precisely the people exchange. Now to believe them or not depends again on your level of paranoia :)

So again, i think for my case that's good enough privacy, but I agree that this doesn't sound like the most trusted network to run your mega-file-sharing business :)

[rainbowdemon]

Has to be very easy to use because "old people" will be using it


Old people are automatically stupid?



Fuck you.

[ematters]

I'm sorry, where did I say they were stupid? ... Just because I've put "old people" in quotes? Geesh dude, get off your high horse and smoke a joint or something...

[eivioolla]

Old people are automatically stupid?

Fuck you.

On average old people are way more technically challenged and reluctant to learn new things than young, and judging from your post, perhaps more than just that.

[rainbowdemon]

On average old people are way more technically challenged and reluctant to learn new things than young, and judging from your post, perhaps more than just that.


Just speaking from the computer standpoint. Your generation uses them almost exclusively. But my generation invented them.

[Signa]

another program you can try is hamachi. i have been using this for a few months now and i find it totaly awsome. i dont know if it would be better or worse than what you are using, but its a good option IMO for what you said you needed.

[ematters]

another program you can try is hamachi. i have been using this for a few months now and i find it totaly awsome. i dont know if it would be better or worse than what you are using, but its a good option IMO for what you said you needed.

Thanks for mentionning, I tried it quickly, maybe didn't try it enough :) I'll have another look...

[litening]

Hey.

This thread might be dead but I'll give it a try anyway.

I'm one of the developers behind Alliance. I'm interested in improving Alliance.

What made you choose FolderShare instead of Alliance? Was alliance too tricky to use? If that's the case: what would you think should be easier in Alliance? If you have any suggestions about what would make you stick with Alliance then please do tell me.