WinMX

Do you like it when extremely wealthy strangers take things away from you that you might otherwise find useful?

Their motives don't involve morality, or bettering mankind, or anything humanistic. No, their motives in taking things away are based solely on their perceived threat you pose to their profits.

How does that make you feel?

In the words of former President Jimmy Carter, it whizzes me off.

One of the many uses of the internet is file sharing. The RIAA and spyware developers (they seem to have lots in common) have given file sharing a bad name. However, it is a perfectly legitimate way to share data.

One use of file sharing has been to spread copyrighted material without compensating the artists. That's an unfortunate situation that I DO NOT condone.

However, there are millions of music files out there that the authors have made available freely to anyone who cares to listen to them. Documents, programs, images, and practically any other digital file can be searched for and accessed via file sharing software.

Unfortunately, most software that allows file sharing is also loaded with spyware, crapware, and other underhanded hitchhikers. Thus, in 2001, Frontcode Technologies decided to create a simple, proprietary, garbage-free program called WinMX so its users could share files with no fear of infection.

Note this quote from today's FamilyFirst pick, the Wikipedia entry for WinMX:

On September 13, 2005, Frontcode Technologies received a cease and desist letter from the RIAA demanding that they either implement filters to make it impossible for users to download copyrighted material from WinMX, or shut down. On September 21, 2005 the network and the WinMX homepage were officially confirmed as offline.

So Frontcode no longer supports the product.

However, IT LIVES ON!

Anonymous developers have kept it alive and patched. So you can still download fully operational and updated versions of WinMX today! The community keeps an eye on things so nobody gets exploited by underhanded ones (even RIAA goons).

You never got to use DAT recording technology. The RIAA killed it off in the 80's. Fortunately, they didn't manage the same with WinMX.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontcode_Technologies

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