What is Peer to Peer?

I'd be interested in your opinion of a new P2P Internet Telephony application (Skype.com). According to the site, this is a new (beta version) application developed by the same folks who developed KaZaA peer-to-peer file-sharing. What does peer-to-peer mean in this environment - does my computer get used to route other user's phone calls? Does this create any additional risk to my computer or include any spyware?

Thanks.

Gary

This question was answered on February 10, 2004. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

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Kazaa uses peer-to-peer technology This means that individual users connect to each other directly, without need for a central point of management

A user downloads and installs Kazaa and it will automatically connect to other Kazaa users

For example Peter downloads Kazaa and installs it onto his computer Mary also has Kazaa installed on her computer Peter uses Kazaa to search for a file he is looking for Kazaa finds the file on Maryâ??s computer Peter can now download the file directly from Mary

And Kazaa yes include spyware i dont know all the names but there is bounch of them that are installed in your computer when you download kazaa.

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Posted by Student of Katharine Gibbs School - New York on February 10, 2004

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