This topic is turning slightly political.. however, OK, I'll bite. Profit dominated Gnutella? I use Gnucleus. I'm not affected by advertising in the slightest.

I think that users, given the choice will opt for the advertising-free client overall. Most typical users are not aware of the terms Gnucleus, or even Gnutella. But if you mention BearShare, or LimeWire, these are the brand-names they are looking for. This is why these clients are so successful. Typical users are simply not aware of the OpenSource movement.

Why do you think that we will have a profit dominated Gnutella? I think that this will only affect users who choose to use advertising ridden clients. The keyword in that sentence is choose. I choose to use advertising free software. What you are suggesting is that everyone be forced to use a ad-free client to be able to access the OpenSource specific nodes. Why? I say that if people choose to knowingly load adware ridden clients onto their own computers, hey, who am I to oppose that? I'll happily use my Gnucleus, knowing that I'm using the better client.

It's up to each individual user to decide.

What are some ground rules that you would like to see instituted for the for-profit clients? And more importantly, how would you suggest that rules regarding an open protocol are enforced?

And I'd like to hear from the developers behind the OpenSource p2p Network on this topic.. it's getting quite interesting.