eXeem, THE future of P2P? Or a just a platform to it?
Many people listened to Sloncek of Suprnova announce the impending arrival of eXeem,
this program is one of the hottest BT subjects due to the new direction it will steer BT in.
While the core is Bittorrent, the program itself is an evolution of the original software that Bram Cohen designed for more efficient downloads.
There are many questions now about the client and how it works.
So today we are going to try and piece together a complete picture of eXeem in what I call Rise eXeem pt.2.
~What is it?
eXeem is a new generation P2P client that takes the GUI look and decentralized indexing of programs like Kazaa and Ares Galaxy and combines it with the secure hashing of BT, this makes for secure and stable files while hopeful preventing dubious orgs like overpeer from putting corrupt files online. With the new GUI it’s now possible to do a media search for your files making it easier to find just what you want.
This program is ad supported and may include spyware in its final release though the definition of spyware seems to be the subject of debate in forums discussing eXeem as that’s the stuff that you don’t want near your machine.
~How does it work?
Good Question, eXeem appears to be a decentralized client that can not only download torrents but can also download eXeem links
(ala ed2k magnet links).
One can issue torrents and files through the client acting as their own tracker, while (presumably) the client loads the file information to the eXeem network making it “appear” as a download. Presumably eXeem will have a node type setup aka Kazaa/Fastrack where search queries will be sent to one of the nodes and then the info from the nodes to you.
In eXeem it will not be possible to share a section of your hard drive, instead it will only list the files you have put up on the network as with BT indexing.
Apparently file integrity will be maintained through the use of BT Hashing and a rating system/w commentary, unfortunately the program only supports windows and is ad based ala Cydoor of early Kazaa fame.
~The Take
Well the concept of a decentralized BT based network has lots of promise but there are many questions that remain.
1)File Integrity: The makers of eXeem were kind enough to add a comment and rating system to keep the integrity of the network.
However such attempts in the past with other P2P Clients have failed miserably. Moreover the highly touted hashing of BT is effective but only in the natural BT environment.
In eXeem picture if you will a group of overpeer lackeys, Now what if one issues a corrupt torrent and then his buddies then download the same file and seed it on the network. BT hashing is ineffective in this case as it relies on the integrity of the person who issued the file, as well as the moderation of index sites to make sure fakes were never downloaded or posted.
Now though when you search you might possibly have a file shared by many people that is a dummy file as the peers sharing it intentionally put it up for download, It’s hashed and one could not corrupt it further but it was hashed in all its purposely corrupt glory.
The client would not recognize the pieces as being corrupt because that’s what the individual hashed and uploaded to begin with.
File integrity is the life of a network and it’s important to make sure your files are verified. It is curious to see how the issue will be dealt with as this is one of the questions people are asking.
2)Anonynimity: There are some articles that say eXeem will bring a degree of anonymous file sharing to BT.
Unfortunately looking at the available information about eXeem none of them specifically say how it will make you more invisible or even more secure for that matter, I think the rumors just might be like that….rumors.
The Nature of BTs swarming means your IP is visible to everyone including the Holy Mary. This hype might mislead people into thinking eXeem will hide their activities.
3)Spyware: Spyware/Malware call it what you want, if you’d like to get technical it’s actually Adware but in any case and instance its bad news as it hogs resources, may trace your habits and report them to another source.
Or at the least it will make your box run like molasses.
The inclusion of Adware will drive people to make a client that will exclude this feature.
4)Innovation: Enter closed source, this means the code is proprietary and off limits to anyone except the developers and those they seem fit to grant a peek.
This is a suffocating thing for P2P as open source allows more people to build clients that may run more efficiently. Kazaa was famous for taking on people it deemed had violated its patents (ala kazaa lite)
It will be interesting to see how they do with a closed source program as people will still try to reverse engineer it for their purposes.
5)For Profit P2P?:The inclusion of adware and the refusal of the spokesperson for eXeem to identify his employers a long with the Closed Source software points to a Sharman type corporation looking to make profit from eXeem, perhaps through legit content distribution.
The P2P companies who have tried this approach usually fail miserably as the trade groups are unmoved by “the wave of the future” in content distribution, preferring to instead to rely on an outdated mode of royalties and marketing.
~The Full Picture eXeem is a good vision in terms of ideas and innovation but in reality they are making a client that might get off of a bad start if the issues aren’t discussed.
File integrity on the network is one of the big question marks. If they can make sure there is minimal spoofing on eXeem then they have a head start.
A lot of people have not been pleased at the announced inclusion of Cydoor, this is because of Cydoor’s reputation as spyware, though eXeem defends this through the argument that Cydoor has changed significantly since being labeled as Spyware.
Though the inherent mistrust (rightfully so) of spyware makes this difficult to swallow, this suspicion might have an impact on user base and shelf life of the product when its released.
The concept of a decentralized BT network is a natural evolution of the source code for BT and the additions of a GUI with a search able database is an added bonus, it will also be interesting to see how it will go down when many eager beavers try to pick apart the code to come up with thier own eXeem derivative. If the reaction is lawsuits, they may ostracise the very group of people who they will try to market to.
Open Source would be a good thing for this program but time will tell if the developers will feel a need to share the SC with anyone, time will also tell if the trade groups will have a hey day with eXeem as with Kazaa (seeing as sharman got beat down pretty good, so they feel empowered))
We shall all see soon and as many people that are excitied there is another group who is patiently waiting and seeing how it goes.
The authors core belief is that the ideas around it will inspire the new gen p2p programs, as with many things though, time will tell.
By: Bryan M. (Moneoa)
Lead Zp News Admin
Related Posts
- RISE EXEEM
- eXeem lite 1.8
- Exeem Lite vs. eXeem official beta (Updated and now Complete)
- eXeem Drops Cydoor
- Meet eXeem. And Cydoor.
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