A plan to revive old Morpheus 1.3.3 and avoid KaZaA's "Upgrade Morpheus" trick

[Spikologia]

First of all, I'm new here, so I'm really sorry if my idea is not new or is known not to work - I tried to look over the forums to see if a similiar idea was tried, and I'm really sorry if I missed one and am just bothering you now Also, if you know I'm wrong somewhere here, please let me know.

So, as far as I understand, Sharman Networks or KaZaA BV (a.k.a FastTrack) put into v1.5 of the FastTrack core a function that will make each v1.5 superpeer to kick out old v1.3.3 users by requiring them to upgrade. This effectively kicked StreamCast's Morpheus out of the network, since StreamCast wasn't supplied with a v1.5 FastTrack core to use for an upgraded Morpheus 1.5. StreamCast then released Morpheus Preview Edition 1.3.3.1 which doens't connect to the FastTrack network anymore, but to Gnutella.

After a while, users discovered that the old, FastTrack-based Moprheus 1.3.3 works again. It didn't connect to the KaZaA-Grokster-iMesh FastTrack though, but to an independent network automatically created. This network received the nickname "iMorpheus". But then after another while it again stopped working, saying it needs an upgrade (just like before). From time to time this "iMorpheus" network went up and then down again with the "upgrade" notice. The assumed explanation for this was there were neither none or very little number of v1.3.3 superpeers in the user's area, or KaZaA kept switching the "upgrade" notice sent from v1.5 users to v.1.3.3 users on and off, as Sharman Networks or KaZaA BV are suspected to have direct control over this feature.

Whatever really makes the v1.3.3 clients not to connect to its own independent network, it probably won't work if there were no (or at least less then the number of v1.5 clients there are now) v1.5 clients on FastTrack, since these are the ones who keep kicking v1.3.3 users out. But even if we could convince people not to use v1.5+, what COULD they use, if v1.3.3 clients aren't working anymore?

That why I did some tests. Indeed, on my computer, Morpheus 1.3.3 refuses to connect, telling me to download an upgrade which doesn't exist. I got a version of KaZaA 1.3.3 and it didn't work either, however tKaZaA 1.3.3 actually had an upgrade available (I was offered to download 1.5.1 - probably I connected to a 1.5.1 superpeer ant not to a 1.6 one). Anyways, I can't upgrade to 1.5+ 'cuz it kicks Morpheus out.

So I did a little thinking. Then I remebered that just a little while before KaZaA.com was bought by Sharman Networks, FastTrack released an update to KaZaA 1.3.3 - it was called KaZaA 1.4. I think the only difference (that we were told about) was a new Recommendations system. However KaZaA.com was soon purchased, and the new owners, Sharman networks, for some reason didn't like 1.4, so they released KaZaA 1.3.4 (strange that they made a step back in the verion numbering) short after. I don't trust Sharman, so I haven't tried v1.3.4, however I DID find KaZaA 1.4 (which came out BEFORE 1.3.4 and was never officialy available again - Sharman just jumped straight to 1.5 after 1.3.4) and it works like a charm. It does ASK you if you want to upgrade, but you don't HAVE TO, and it can be used to connect to the actual FastTrack network, not just an independent one.

SO what does this mean? I suspect that this 1.4 version released by FastTrack might not have the mechanism the demands older clients to upgrade, and\or that KaZaA (sharman\FastTrack) can't control it. If so, this can be used as a link between the old Morpheus 1.3.3 and the "wide" FastTrack network, or at least to fill the network with clients that KaZaA can't control. If we make users download this fast enough, there might be too many v1.4 clients before KaZaA notices them, and they would be too many to be blocked.

I therefore started working on a spyware-free version. If we can make the "KaZaA Lite" websites to feature some kind of a "KaZaA Lite 1.4" and explain why this should be used and not newer versions (newer versions don't really offer anything new for the end user anyway), maybe it could get pretty popular.

Please tell me what you think. Thanks!

[nickroberts]

Some interesting thoughts and observations. I enjoyed reading your post. I am a bottom line person, and here's a boiled down prediction and answer to your question.

1) You are right, the FastTrack Network has shown to be the fastest, easiest and best p2p network to date. No other system is better right now.

2) There is no need for iMorpheus right now because the Kazaa lite program is so popular and it's loaded with users and results. (In other words, why use a IMorpheus type clone with only a few users online when the real thing has over 1.5 million online)

3) If the FastTrack network was shut down, or there was some other big disruption in the network, I would be willing to bet that someone will do exactly what you're saying. They would take an older version of Kazaa or Morpheus, change the branding, change some registry settings and it would live forever, decentralized.

I think eventually #3 will happen. I also believe that FastTrack in some sort of open source way will live forever.

Nick

[Spikologia]

Newer versions keep hiding surprises. v1.5 kicked out old clients. And about v1.6? It just isn't around for enough time to show it's new hidden "features". KaZaA v1.4 isn't any different then 1.5+ for the end user. With the spyware taken out it is just as useful as "KaZaA Lite", as it connects to the whole FastTrack network with those 1.5 million users. By using a hacked v1.4, we avoid all the new surprises, enjoy the same network as with newer versions, and prepare the ground for using a working, non-hacked, spyware-free, ad-free (since the adservers no longer works) morpheus 1.3.3 comeback. If a v1.3.3 client connects to a KaZaA v1.4 superpeer, it should theoretically connect to the rest of FastTrack through it, so Morpheus could connect to the whole FastTrack network again, and not just the independent "iMorpheus"!
And even if v1.4 isn't used to get Morpheus back, I think it should still be used to give KaZaA less control and power...

[hda12]

Originally posted by Spikologia
SO what does this mean? I suspect that this 1.4 version released by FastTrack might not have the mechanism the demands older clients to upgrade, and\or that KaZaA (sharman\FastTrack) can't control it.

I m sure, FastTrack can control the actions of their supernodes. Otherwise the autoupgrade or the lock out from Morpheus 1.3.3. could not happen. So I think, FastTrack can lock out Version 1.4 if they want do this.

[snowman]

Your idea is a good one but it won't work. Sorry.

The basic reason is that the mechanism that 1.5 used to upgrade and then force upgrade the 1.3.3 clients to 1.5 will eventually pollute your new network. I will explain in some detail so get a cup of coffee and read this slowly the first time though. You may need to think about for a few minutes to grasp the math and its logic.

If you managed to say create a network of 1.3.3 or even 1.4 of say 20 active supernodes and 2500 clients the resulting structure would be a multiply linked list of computers. In simple terms each client is connected to 1 or more, or N1, N2 … Nn links where n <= 12 .

I got the 12 number from some post in the Morpheus user form a long time ago. It is not important nor critical if that is the right number as long as it is at least greater then 3 for reasons I won’t explain here.

Since Supernodes process FastTrack searches, the 1 to N relationship, and since each supernodes knows about S supernodes, where S > then about 12 relationship guarantees that:

a) If X-1 where X> 2 supernodes go offline then the single client will still be able to search on the N1 supernode,
b) If N supernodes go offline, the client is orphaned and thus has to re-login or reconnect to the network to continue searching,
c) If S supernodes go offline, the supernode is orphaned and now has to log again as a client and get promoted or have a connected client tell it about another supernode so S is again greater then 1 and reconnects to the original network eventually growing back to S ~= 12.

This causes each client to link like a node in a web of N connections. As long as at least one link is connected the node is still part of the web. Cut all links and the node is orphaned.

So why won’t your idea work?

Clients and supernodes constant talk to each other and exchange supernodes IP’s somehow. That I don’t know so don’t ask. This is the glue that binds the network together and makes it self healing. This is required because people turn off the their computers for dumb reasons. If the turned off computer is a supernode then this causes many connected client to lose an N link. If enough supernodes disconnect the network dies on that client because the client can’t search.

So back to the network of 20 active nodes and 2500 clients. The network would be stable by itself. However if a 1.5 client or supernode attempts to join it will start to tell the nodes to force upgrade. Again I don’t know how but the effect has been well documented. The 1.3.3 supernodes will alter their registry as discussed in other posts to only use 1.5 after restart and won’t connect. Then the N and S links will start to fail like a wave in a pond when you throw a stone in the middle as computers are turned off and on.

Another real world example is the Cellular telephone network with phones and cell sites. Go out of range of that last cell site and your phone stops working. Why? Same reason - no N links.

If you want to create a 1.3.3 network again you have to make sure that you changed the port from 1214 to say 1215 to basically create an alternate network with no chance of a 1.5 node touching it.

However all the fellows at FastTrack are pretty smart so to kill your new network all they have to do is modify a 1.5 client to port 1215, join your network, plant the upgrade message and shutdown. Within a short period it will shut itself down with no valid upgrade path.

Morpheus was not attacked by anybody. All that noise a couple of months ago was simply basic ignorance of how the N Linked Networks actually work. Morpheus was simply denied the upgrade path by 1.5. It shut itself down as people turned off their computers.

The obvious question that the attentive reader might ask is could FastTrack Va.b be shut down? Theoretically speaking yes if you understood the mechanism of the upgrade from Va.b to Va.c. However to do so would required to send the upgrade message to Y clients and supernodes, where Y > Z*2/3 with Z being the total number of nodes on the network. Unlikely to happen in real life though because Z > 20,000,000 for sure and since at least 18,500,000 are not connected at any one time you simply cannot send the forced upgrade message to Z*2/3 nodes as long a Z > 2.

So why did the forced upgrade work from 1.3.3 to 1.5 and not die off? Because FastTrack V1.5 continued to operate after the upgrade and kept sending the force upgrade message achieving Z nodes messaged.

So forget it, it won’t work.

[Spikologia]

Originally posted by hda12


I m sure, FastTrack can control the actions of their supernodes. Otherwise the autoupgrade or the lock out from Morpheus 1.3.3. could not happen. So I think, FastTrack can lock out Version 1.4 if they want do this.

As far as I know, only v1.5+ of KaZaA\Grokster can tell v1.3.3 to upgrade. v1.4 was released about 2 months before v1.5 I think, so it probably didn't have this mechanism to lock Morpheus out. Therefore I beleive (though not sure) that v1.4 supports v1.3.3 clients (including Morpheus) since v1.4 came out BEFORE KaZaA got into Sharman networks hands and hopefully they didn't have the idea of taking Morpheus out in mind yet.

And about KaZaA v1.4 being locked out - maybe (I have no basis to say this, just guessing) the reason Sharman Networks were so rushed to take v1.4 of the net and strangely release v1.3.4 was because they found v1.4 cannot be locked out the way they planned so they had to act fast and take it out of use?
Probably not, as there could be hundreds of other reasons, but who knows. Anyways, fact is that v1.4 hasn't been locked out YET, this has gotta mean something, it is much older than v1.5 (by the rate new versions are coming out, that is)... And we know for sure that newer versions of KaZaA have more "surprises" and no real new features, then why not stick with the oldest one still working?

[Spikologia]

Snowman - I understand what you're saying, and this is why v1.3.3-based "iMorpheus" keeps dying.
But this is where my "discovery" comes into place. v1.4 isn't blocked by v1.5+. And probably v1.4 doesn't block v1.3.3, as v1.3.3 wasn't blocked by it before. What does it mean? First we distribute lots of v1.4 clients. Those will have no problem connecting to the COMPLETE KaZaA-Grokster-iMesh FastTrack network, as v1.4 CAN be connected to v1.5+ superepeers and isn't locked by them.
Later, when enough v1.4 clients are online, Morpheus could be used again, first connecting to v1.4 clients and later to other v1.3.3 clients, Morpheus could use v1.4 superpeers as gateways into the whole FastTrack network, and therefore will not suffer the fast death of a small "independent" network.

[snowman]

It won't work because you cannot control what supernodes the 1.3.3 or 1.4 or 1.5 client connects to when it starts up.

Touch a 1.5 and it is dead by the meachnism I described above.

[Spikologia]

1.4 clients will connect to 1.5 clients with no problem. I tested it. About 1.3.3 clients - I got the impression that before the first time it shows the upgrade notice, it tries many supernodes and shows only when it is unsuccessful. I may be wrong however.
But anyways - 1.4 clients will have no problem to connect to 1.5 superpeers - they are fully compaible. I tried it.

I think you did not fully understand this- 1.4s will connect to BOTH 1.5 AND 1.3.3. And even if the final move to Morpheus isn't successful - I think a 1.4 network is better than a 1.5+ network, it has less of KaZaA's sneaky features.

Please, correct me if you think I still don't understan

Thanks

[JackSpratts]

wow, interesting theories guys. welcome to nu spikologia! enjoy the boards

- js.

[hda12]

All Supernodes communicates with Kazaas servers. In this way Kazaa can remote control all the supernodes and so force the clients to upgrade, lock some older versions out or wake up the altnet from Brilliant Digital. They can probably do more worse things with the PCs of users which are connecteted to Fasttrack.

So Fasttracks servers give the order to supernodes to do something. The reason for the upgrade to version 1.5 is probably only to distinct between desired and undesired clients.

[Spikologia]

Originally posted by hda12
All Supernodes communicates with Kazaas servers. In this way Kazaa can remote control all the supernodes and so force the clients to upgrade, lock some older versions out or wake up the altnet from Brilliant Digital. They can probably do more worse things with the PCs of users which are connecteted to Fasttrack.

So Fasttracks servers give the order to supernodes to do something. The reason for the upgrade to version 1.5 is probably only to distinct between desired and undesired clients.

All we know is that v1.5 supernodes block v1.3.3 clients. It isn't sure (as far as I know) that this order comes from KaZaA's servers, and not just hardcoded into v1.5+. Even if it does, it is very possible that v1.4 superpeers don't have the mechanism required to block older clients, and that this is a "feature" of v1.5+ only!

Sounds to me like it's worth trying, as again, there's nothing to lose, and the less control we give KaZaA, the better we can live with ourselves

[Snarkridden]

Ok, so who has a copy of 1.4, I wonder if that site with the store of old P-2-p's has it?

Anyone got the URL for it?

Snark

[Spikologia]

Originally posted by Snarkridden
Ok, so who has a copy of 1.4, I wonder if that site with the store of old P-2-p's has it?

Anyone got the URL for it?

Snark

I am working on a spyware-free version. Not sure yet however if there is a real demand for one.
Anyways, in the meanwhile, you can probably hope to find this file on the FastTrack (remember how KaZaA puts its installation file on the shared folder so it can distribute itself? Well you can find all KaZaA's versions since 1.3.3 this way) - the filename is "kmd14_en.exe". just Search on KaZaA or a compatible client (I know this is rather absurd, but there's no better way. Download it, uninstall KaZaA, and install the downloaded older version. I will hopefully have the spyware-free version on the web sometime soon).
And if you download KaZaA 1.4 - beware! It seems to include B3D Projector!

[JackSpratts]

keep in mind all versions of morpheus forward of august 2001 were designed to lock out gifts' opensource project. as such these versions destroyed the network as it then existed. jaan said they could survive in some form but mine finally shut down completely about seven days after the new release. it never connected again in any meaningfull way. in other words, morpheus v1.30 was already vulnerable to sublimation. i can't imagine later versions being any less susceptible.

- js.

[thegame412]

Reviving old morpheus would be cool. I tried to look for a kazaa v1.4 but i only found v1.3.3, 1.3.4 and 1.5. kazaa 1.3.3 doesn't work same as morpheus 1.3.3. However, there is an imorpheus v1.5.1 which seems cool. I wouldn't use grokster/kazaa official versions becuase they send unwanted files to your computer. It would be nice to see old morpheus back up. If you're really serious about making it work again, good luck Spikologia.

[twinspan]

Hi Spikologia, interesting idea.

I found kmd14_en.exe on FastTrack straightaway - but THREE different versions:

• Kazaa Media Desktop Installer - Kazaa - 3,224kb
• Kazaa Media Desktop Installer - Sharman Networks Ltd. - 3,193kb
• kmd14_en - Kazaa - 3,264kb

The first is by far the most popular, the last was only one hit.

Which version did you test?

PS Did you test for BDE etc too?

[colinmacc]

Nice thread, I like the thinking, I'm not sure how successful you'll be, but good luck anyway!

I'll be interested to find out how you get on.

Anything that gives Sharman a serious case of indigestion is worth a go, although I think while they are in existence, they will always be in control of the network because some of the Kazaa supernodes are hard-coded into the applications, as well as in the registry. I think as soon as they become aware of the 1.4 issue, they'll find a way to stop it happening.

This is why Kazaa Lite is such a good option at the moment, as long as it keeps up to date with the releases; Sharman can't tell the difference between regular KMD and Lite KMD, so they can't be blocked (yet...)

[Vladd44]

if my memory is correct, doesnt kazaa do its dirty tricks by automatically changing your registry? if so why not use something like startup monitor to keep it from changing your registry, it warns you (and asks if u choose to allow) ANY changes to your registry.

I run it bc I hate when programs change things i dont want it too. But it could be at least one line of defence against kazaa's out of control behavior.

[colinmacc]

Startup monitor will only alert you to things that alter the registry that affect your computer at startup. The registry is being updated by programs all the time, not just Kazaa. You wouldn't be able to have something to alert you to ALL of the changes, it's just not feasible!