[JDEV] File transfers

[Marco Stolpe]

On Friday 07 June 2002 12:52, you wrote:
> If p2p is the One True Answer, maybe we should ditch the jabber
> server altogether and just chat over gnutella.

:-)))) Maybe we should chat over jabber, but transfer our files using 
a file sharing application, using the applications exactly for the 
purpose they were originally created for??? And optimized (hopefully)?

It looks a bit strange to me to use Jabber at all for file transfers. 
I'm reading that book "Peer-to-Peer" (O'Reilly) at the moment and 
also "Programming Jabber". My first impression is that though Jabber 
is much more than an IM client/server, it nevertheless provides and 
was made for IM-like functionality, which could be used - of course - 
by any application which needs that. Maybe sitting on top of a 
peer-to-peer app, creating another address space, bringing in the 
notion of "presence", *coordinate* file transfers (in comparison to 
doing them) and the like.

When I think of "messaging", then I'm thinking of something 
lightweight almost immediately, but not of transferring huge files. I 
wouldn't call that "Instant Messaging" or "Messaging" any longer, but 
file sharing/file distribution. I have to admit though that the 
distinction is getting blurred the smaller the files become. A JPG 
might be smaller than a text I'm pasting into a message window ...

> That's probably better, but the gestalt of the discussion at the
> moment seems to be "server-assisted transfers are stupid," which is
> why I posted in favor of server intermediation.

As I said in my new posting again: IMHO, that depends on the 
situation and the rules to decide that aren't easy to set up. 

Without real tests and numbers, we're lost, I fear.

Have a nice day,
Marco