IP: another use for Instant Messaging

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Napster Spawns a New Net 'Monster'
Alec Klein Washington Post Service
Monday, February 26, 2001
Software Poised to Take Over Where Troubled Service Leaves Off
ALBANY, New York An elevator opens onto a dimly lit hallway. Over creaky 
floors, under a water-stained ceiling and around the corner stands a gray 
door bearing a nameplate with small black lettering: AIMSTER.

So much for grand entrances. What lies beyond is a gang of tech wonks with 
big ambitions for reshaping the Web.

Inside that unceremonious office, Johnny Deep, a 43-year-old tech whiz, and 
his college-aged programmers have created software called Aimster that they 
hope will be the next Napster, the hugely popular music-swapping program 
whose days as a free service now appear numbered. A federal court has 
ordered Napster to stop users from downloading copyrighted material onto 
their personal computers.

Napster and Aimster are similar in some ways. Both allow Internet users to 
search for music files on other computers and copy songs at no cost. But 
Aimster does something Napster does not: It allows users to swap any kind 
of digital file, including video, text and photographs.

Another big difference is that Aimster piggybacks on the instant-messaging 
systems that count tens of millions of users, including those on AOL Time 
Warner's giant AIM service. And Aimster has yet to be challenged by the 
recording industry or other owners of copyrighted material.

<snip>

http://tm0.com/IHT/sbct.cgi?s=110400840&i=307989&d=1084315



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