Hi sdsalsero-

We haven't completely optimized the algorithm from the perspective of making sure that the rarest chunks are always downloaded first, a la BitTorrent. This is basically because we're coming at the problem from another angle -- from the angle of a file-sharing app that simply wants to also make partial files available. In BitTorrent, the problem is slightly different simply befause node transience is more of an issue -- nodes are expected to go offline as soon as the file is complete. With Gnutella, it's expected that many nodes will have the complete file.

Not that we shouldn't make optimizations along these lines, but they're just not as big optimizations on Gnutella as they are with BitTorrent because the networks simply behave differently.

I hope I'm addressing your point and not just rambling!

Thanks.