Feb 28 2002
OpenP2P.com: A Free Software Agenda
OpenP2P.com: A Free Software Agenda for Peer-to-Peer [Feb. 28, 2002] Furthermore, the challenges in this area are just right for free software. First, peer-to-peer makes life especially hard for a proprietary software company. Few companies can survive even in the current market for conventional products, but peer-to-peer makes the challenge even worse. Most of the activity in peer-to-peer systems, by definition, goes on at the end points. The situation is like all the users bringing parts for a model airplane, and the proprietary company providing the glue. The companies want you to sniff the glue and come back for more, but it’s a very thin basis on which to charge money.
