The idea is that the traditional model of participating in the Internet, where a small computer operated by an everyday user ("client") to request and receive information from large computer managed by a company or other large entity (server, ""), began providing some new ground (new to the edge of the Internet, anyway) called the model of peer-to-peer. In a peer-to-peer, all participants in the network about the same. The ICQ chat service and Napster music-sharing community are examples of what this book is about. The main advantage of peer-to-peer is that many people share the burden of providing computing resources (processor time and disk space), administrative staff, creativity, and - in more than a few cases - legal liability. The main drawback of the system of peer-to-peer, as a people will prove who had downloaded MP3 prematurely terminated when a dialup user went offline will attest, is the tendency of the computer on the network edge fading in and out of availability. This is a book about the idea of complete 'computer with a mechanism that allows them to connect, more or less automatically and without human attention, to other Internet users everyday' ordinary Internet users machine. By establishing a computer network at the "edge" so-called Internet, perhaps to offer valuable services without the burden of administrative buildings and a large, centralized computer system such that host traditional Web sites. Napster is an example of the most successful to date, although geeks will note that the system was not fully peer-to-peer as users register their file libraries with a central server when they log on to the service. Do not approach this book expecting to learn how to build the next Napster system. Instead, it is a book that aims to get readers to think about what happens when information systems switch from client-server model and toward peer-to-peer model (which is one of the points the book, by the way, that this is not a decision architecture one-or-the-other). Other contributors discuss peer-to-peer chat software, anonymous remailing service, and other applications of peer-to-peer design. No one from Napster represented as an author in this collection of essays, but Clay Shirky presents an essay called "Listening to Napster." In that essay, Shirky gives an opinion on why Napster has been successful: it is focused on providing consumers want something, and the convention passed the Internet (such as Domain Naming System) because they are not the best way to provide service. Such coverage computing "soft" may supplement that is distributed both to the second edition of this book. Peer-to-Peer is a thought provoking book that will help the reader to understand a-, emerging application architecture is still attractive for Internet Wall. - David Topics covered: Peer-to-peer applications that run on the edge of the Internet, usually on home computers run by ordinary people. Much of this book consists of case studies on SETI @ home, Gnutella, Freenet, Jabber, and other peer-to-peer services.