WinMX

WinMX is a peer- to-peer file sharing application for Microsoft Windows, developed by the company Frontcode Technologies.

History

WinMX was even during the heyday of Napster. The first version was simply a client for OpenNap server, it was published on 8 October 2000. When the Recording Industry Association of America (short RIAA ) in March and April 2001 increasingly took action against the OpenNap networks and the few remaining servers were overloaded, the WinMX programmers developed their own, decentralized network named WinMX Peer Networking Protocol (short WPNP ) which started with the release of version 2.5 of WinMX on 2 May 2001. To date, WinMX supports both protocols.

In 2002, the number of simultaneous WinMX users was estimated at 1.5 million, and now it was the second largest file-sharing network Kazaa behind.

Following the release of version 3.31 on October 19, 2002, the developer submitted a long pause until 2004, version 3.52 and early July 2004, the version 3.53 released in mid-June, which introduced some updates to own WPNP network. Frontcode Technologies entertained even some peer cache server to support the caching of IP addresses of many WinMX users WPNP the network.

WinMX was very popular because of its 2-byte character support in Japan. The popularity greatly eased some arrests WinMX users gradually resulted in the development of a serverless, partially encrypted application named Winny.

In September 2005, according to media reports WinMX received a Cease -and- Desist Letter - this according to a warning letter - which relied on the judgment of the U.S. Supreme Court against the operators of the P2P program Grokster in June 2005 by the RIAA in it. On 21 September 2005 Frontcode took the websites frontcode.com and winmx.com from the mains and turned off the central server farm. And in early October 2005, registered the domain winmx.com on the island nation of Vanuatu.

However, some fans WinMX developed patches that allow the continued operation of the WinMX own WPNP network and the OpenNap to alternate servers. Although the restart has been hampered by Community internal rivalries between the main actors Winmxworld and Vladd44 and the music industry by fake files and search results (Fake Flooding ) tries to sabotage the system, there continues to be an active user community, whose members appreciate the communication possibilities that WinMX compared to newer, more modern file sharing systems offers. In November 2006 there were about 2,000 chat rooms.