Since its release in July last year, Shareaza has come to be recognized as one of the most innovative P2P applications, positioned at the bleeding edge of new ideas and technologies. Until now, all of this energy has gone into making Shareaza the “best Gnutella client”. Along the way Gnutella had to be improved, so Shareaza developed and championed Gnutella2 – now the most feature-rich (but not the largest) file sharing-network in existence today.
But “Gnutella” is only one of many networks, and the era of file-sharing applications competing on the merits of their chosen network has passed. P2P programs must compete on their own merits, on how good the application itself is. Then users will be able to select the program they like best instead of having to put up with something just to access the network they prefer.
The next version of Shareaza represents a fundamental shift: Shareaza will no longer strive to be the ultimate Gnutella client – it will strive to be the “ultimate P2P client”.
Shareaza 1.9 will offer access to two additional P2P networks, both of which enjoy substantial popularity, as well as the premiere Gnutella2 network and support for the legacy Gnutella1 network. Following that, future versions will offer an even wider selection of networks.
These changes will redefine Shareaza as a true “P2P client”, rather than simply a “Gnutella client”. People will be free to choose Shareaza as their client of choice without being restricted to only one or two networks.
Shareaza 1.9 will be released soon, however before that happens there will be a public beta version to fine-tune the support for the two additional P2P networks, and ensure maximum compatibility and usability. This is where we need your help.
Anyone who is interested in helping to test and refine the new Shareaza will be most welcome to do so, particularly those who have prior experience using the new networks through other P2P programs.
The Shareaza public beta will be available by Tuesday (May 6th), and the Shareaza 1.9 final version will be released whenever the public beta testers deem it ready. Details of the specific networks which are supported will be posted prior to the public beta itself. •
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