I am alarmed by a couple features of the ELFnet...
First, it's closed-source. They say the reason is to prevent "malicious download corruption" (maridun, ELF forum admin), presumably by a misbehaving servent or user.

Strong encryption algorithms are open source, and they are so because they can withstand the ultimate scrutiny and lose none of their effectiveness in protecting their users. CSS could not withstand such scrutiny; DeCSS destroyed it.

I worry that ELF could not stand up to a determined attack by an industry with lots of money. The encryption they use, although decent (and rather novel, I think), is not absolute like strong encryption should be (and is!)

Also, I am beginning to design a program which acts as a framework that I can snap-in modules to support new protocols as they emerge. Although I intent to include a Gnutella module (called "Deez Gnuts!" ) and a FreeNet module, I will not (obviously) be able to include an ELF module until they Provide the promised APIs...

And whatever shall happen when I add another computer to my home network, a Linux computer amongst the Wintels?

I'm afraid that, while ELF improves on Gnutella's lack of security (at the expense of horrendous ELFnet bandwidth expenditure OMG!!), it isn't strong enough to warrant the switch...

I'm still reading up on FreeNet...