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Originally Posted by Maze
"such a lousy network nowadays " ... I know ...I wonder why that is TankGirl?
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The two main reasons are probably: plenty of leeching and a poor multisourcing implementation.
As a contrast we could ask why Bittorrent is so good at delivering what you want at high speeds. There every file is effectively a project and a network of its own. This lends to different kind of dynamics where instead of trying to get dozens of different files simultaneously (to compensate for the inevitable queuing) people focus on one or two files at a time, and consequently have the bandwidth to get them fast in the first place. Then there is a strong anti leech feature built into the system architecture itself: the more bandwidth you give the more bandwidth you get (up to a point where you reach your capacity either upstream or downstream). Together these two factors lead to a situation where there is no queuing at all: the downloads start almost immediately, and the speed usually catches up in 10-30 minutes, often maxing out your download bandwidth. The main downside is that the system requires a critical mass of interested downloaders to work as intended, so it is not for rarities. You also need an external website to get the torrents, and relying on trackers (just another name for a dedicated server) makes the system centralized and thereby more vulnerable.
WinMX and Ed2K (eDonkey, eMule) networks both lack the strict file-as-a-project focus of Bittorrent, leading to bandwidths being split between numerous files and a need to manage queues. Both suffer from serious queuing delays but Ed2K still manages to deliver much better thanks to its better multisourcing implementation. WinMX does not have any kind of built-in anti-leech system; eMule has a credit system for uploaders but it doesn’t function well when there is heavy queuing – the rewards come too slow to make a tangible impact.
- tg
