I have been using the gnutella pretty successfully over the past 3-4 months.. i have tried a number of clients from Xolox to Limewire, and find that Xolox suits me the best.. it not only begins downloading a file, but as per the true nature of the gnutella network, it continues to search for and add other hosts who are sharing that file and so as not to overload the hosts it is downloading from, it tries to use multiple hosts to download the same file if posible. also, once u initiate a search, it continually searches for the files until u terminate that search thread. another cool feature of the program is that if another user is downloading the file you are looking for using the xolox client, then it can begin downloading from that user while he is still downloading, hence not overloading the host having the complete file.

after a careful review of the program, i list here in a couple of improvements, not so to the xolox client as to the whole gnutella network protocol as a whole.

1> much like the xolox client, i would appreciate if all clients (under a common protocol) were able to download a file from a host who himself was still downloading it from another, thereby reducing the load on the original host and sharing the network traffic more evenly.

2> as for searching features, most clients do a pretty good job of searching files, but it is a totally different picture when we try to down load the file we have found. it invaribaly so happens that a number of others are already downloading from that host and so he is busy. it would be nice if, at this point a kind of referal servce was established, wherin the original host would inform my client of other hosts that were downloading the file i requested from it, and forward my request to them, so that they in turn could (using the feature i mentioned in <1> above) allow me to download the file. if they too were busy and had other clients already downloading the file part i needed, they too in turn could refer me till i did find an open host. this would ensure a better distribution of traffic and also allow part downloads, thereby ensuring surer downloads.

3> thirdly, clients should allocate download speeds based on the upload speeds set by the users, hence ensuring fewer leeches.

4>as for users who download files and do not share them, the implimentation of point <2> would ensure that atleast while they were downloading the files the files would be available to other users too. as for the sharing of files after the download is complete, that is probably upto the user to keep the good word flowing..

so if u guys have ne other suggestions u would like to share regarding improving the gnutella network, keep this thread going and happy downloading to all of you..

sdp
sdp@mail.com