>>>> Nodes need to connect to a central server to get their identity signed by a >>>> central server. This must happen to prevent Sybil attacks. A bootstrap >>>> server >>>> can be co-located with this authentication server. >>> That's one thing that's bothered me with a lot of discussions of P2P. >>> At the end of the day, real-world p2p systems utterly depend on >>> reliable, realtime access to centralized components. Successful systems >>> recognize and exploit this. >> >> BitTorrent, eMule, Skype are examples of successful distributed systems. >> They may not be 'purely' distributed, but work reasonably well. >> >>> Usability, security, decentralization. Pick any two. >> >> For Skype, can we pick all three? :) > > Skype isn't decentralized. They have central bootstrapping, central > authentication, central billing, etc. If Skype says you don't talk, you > don't talk. If Skype blows up, you don't talk. And as happened last > year, if their pointless rendezvous mesh gets destablized due to massive > reboots, you don't talk for a long time.
If MSN, or Yahoo says don't talk, then you don't talk either... > AIM, ICQ, or MSN are all far bigger than Skype; have they *ever* gone > down that long? > > Anyway, just pushing back on the religion that P2P has developed. It's > fun. It's sexy. It's really hard. But it's often pointless. The advantage of p2p is that it reduces cost of entry in a certain market space. No one denies that anything p2p cannot be done central. However, sometimes economics justify using p2p as a solution. And in Skype's case experience gained from Kazaa was no doubt helpful. To completely rule out non-server p2p as a possible solution for a problem is also naive, and amounts to a no-p2p religion. My point is that take a hard look at the problem and the economics, and pick a solution that has the best cost/benefit ratio. If the solution is p2p, so be it. -salman _______________________________________________ p2p-hackers mailing list [email protected] http://lists.zooko.com/mailman/listinfo/p2p-hackers
