Difference between revisions of "Limewire"

Revision as of 18:12, 9 October 2012

LimeWire is a peer-to-peer(P2P) program designed for the Java Platform, which uses the Gnutella network to locate and transfer files. Limewire is free software that is released under the GNU General Public license. It can run on Windows, Mac OSX, Linux, and other operating systems that work on the Java Platform. Although Limewire is technically a free software, a Pro version was released by the company Limewire LLC, and offers somewhat more functionality than the free version.

Limewire runs on the Gnutella peer to peer file sharing technology. The main characteristic of a P2p network is that no central server exists. More specifically, every node that is connected to the network acts as it's own individual server. In general, every node would play and equal part in the network as a whole. Limewire, and Gnutella, utilze what is called a two tiered file transfer system. This means that stronger nodes assume the role of the "ultra peers", which are nodes that have either been connected to the network long enough, or have enough bandwidth to support many searches and clients at the same time. The "ultra peers" are used mainly for caching results, executing searches and serving as connection points for leaf nodes, which are the nodes that compose the second tier of the file transfer system. Leaf nodes are weaker and have not been connected as long to the network, and may not have the necessary bandwidth to support many clients or searches.

Source: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1742287608000443