LimeWire has released the LimeWire 2.1.2 beta, available, as always, from:

http://www.limewire.com/index.jsp/download_beta

This version is almost identical to 2.1.1. The big difference is the bundling of an application called "TopMoxie" with the Windows installer only, and I am eager to hear any feedback that users may have on this addition.

TopMoxie, or "LimeShop" is really a new direction for us with regard to bundled software, and we hope that it will be successful enough that it can start to replace some of the other software that we currently include.

LimeShop basically takes advantage of web sites' affiliate programs. For those of you who are unfamiliar with affiliate programs, basically what happens is that affiliates of, say, Amazon.com get their own entry point into Amazon that looks just like the normal Amazon start page, but that is a different URL so that Amazon can track the traffic you're driving to them. In return for the traffic, Amazon pays the affiliate a portion of the profits from what people spend on their web site.

For example, LimeWire has an affiliate program with MusicMatch whereby if you go to:

http://www.musicmatch.com/download/p...&did=999991694

it looks like you are going to the normal MusicMatch site, but you're, in fact, going to a special LimeWire affiliate site so that LimeWire gets some of the profits from any purchases.

Upon installation of LimeWire, we include both links to the LimeWire Marketplace as well as a service which tags URL’s with a code that allows online retailers to know when they are supporting the LimeWire cause.

From the user's perspective, there is no difference between this and just going to a web site as you normally would. The difference is that it makes money for LimeWire to continue to improve the program and to provide a better user experience.

This is all it does. It does not collect any information about you or violate your privacy. You can also uninstall it at any time (note that the LimeShop installer does not complete installation until after a restart, however, so you will not see it in Add/Remove Programs until after you restart your machine).

If this brings in enough revenue, we very much prefer it over other bundled software (spyware), and we hope that everyone will agree. TopMoxie is often used to raise money for charities or non-profits, so it's really of a different breed from the software we are currently bundling. Thoughts?