It's Official: Morpheus Locks Out Users

[JackSpratts]

According to c/net, but was it deliberate? Idiots.

update

"StreamCast Networks' Morpheus--a file-swapping service that many have said would be impossible for courts to shut down—-shut out most of its users Tuesday, citing "technical problems."
Computer users trying to log on to the service were greeted with a message telling them to upgrade their software to connect, although no newer version of the software was available. The outage immediately sparked a huge increase in traffic on alternative file-swapping services, such as Gnutella."

- js.

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[TankGirl]

From the C|Net article:
That new software, the company said, would operate using an "open protocol" network. That typically means that different software companies can write pieces of software that talk to each other. The network used by Kazaa, Grokster and until now by Morpheus, is a "closed protocol" network in which each company has to license the software from the owners.

This is an interesting comment. It might be 'just' a reference to the planned inclusion of Gnutella interface into the long-awaited Morpheus 2 but let's not forget the giFT project... should there be an open conflict brewing between Kazaa and StreamCast the latter could always use giFT's open source implementation of the FastTrack protocol in its own client. Add to it a Gnutella interface and Morpheus 2 would be a strong hybrid client free from its earlier costly dependency of Kazaa. No real functionality has been added to the protocol since giFT had its own client working - an upgrade was made only to block giFT users out from the network. Kazaa and Grokster seem to subscribe to a similar spyware-based financing model and are therefore natural allies... StreamCast might play with the open source card - it has already done so once by using OpenNap technology (remember their 40 linked servers?) to establish its initial position in the p2p market.

- tg