Rating: 

Of course, saying that Peer to Peer is an "up and coming" technology is

most likely misleading, given that some form of peer to peer has been

around since the early days of the Internet. However, the series of essays

in this book explain various parts of peer to peer, its past, present &

future, and its benefits to anyone who uses the Internet.

Whether it's people looking to download MP3's off Napster, to get documents

off Publius, or to download files off Gnutella, peer to peer is changing

the way users think of the 'Net. Among the numerous issues discussed in

these essays are the handling of metadata, perfomance and security issues

(ie how to deal with slower servers or DoS attacks), and the repuation or

"credibility" of a service using peer to peer technology.

It's also interesting to trace the history of peer to peer, which is done

in the book's first chapter. There are also looks at the more famous

examples of peer to peer, such as the afore mentioned Napster, Gnutella,

Publius, and also Jabber and FreeNet.

I like to think of peer to peer as a "past and future" Internet technology,

and one that cold still revolutionize the way people interact over the

'net. This book gives an excellent "glimpse" into that world.