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Old September 2nd, 2002
antihedron antihedron is offline
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Join Date: July 22nd, 2002
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Xolox runns on the Gnutella network, a network that many other servents also use. Even if only one person was using Xolox and everyone elso was using another Gnurella servent, the results would be the same (ignoring differences in proformance between servents). There are quite a few users on the Gnutella network. The reason you see less results on the Gnutella network than on Napster is rooted in the mechanics behind Gnutella. Napster used a central server to list where all the files are, so when you search you get every possable match available. Gnutella has no central server, so when you search you are asking the hosts you are connected to, who ask the hosts they are connected to, and so on. This is usually limited to only looking a few layers, so everyone's computers (who relay information) do not get overloaded. Although a central server does make things nice, it also makes a good target for law suits. It is a trade off between the ability to exist and optimal performance.
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