WinMX

WinMX

Developer(s)	Frontcode Technologies
Stable release	3.53 / July 2, 2004 (2004-07-02)
Preview release	3.54 Beta 4
Operating system	Microsoft Windows
Type	File sharing
Website	www.winmx.com

WinMX is a freeware peer-to-peer file sharing program authored by Frontcode Technologies that runs on Microsoft Windows operating systems, created in 2001. According to one study, it was the number one source for online music in 2005 with an estimated 2.1 million users. Frontcode itself abandoned development of WinMX in September 2005, but a community of developers brought the service back online within a few days by releasing patches or new host files. In North America, WinMX has since been eclipsed by other networks such as gnutella and other P2P distribution models like BitTorrent, but due to its Unicode support it remains one of the most popular P2P clients in Japan with over 3 million estimated users as of 2006.

Beginnings

WinMX began its life as an OpenNAP client capable of connecting to several servers simultaneously, although Frontcode later created a proprietary protocol, termed WinMX Peer Network Protocol (WPNP), which was used starting with WinMX 2 in May 2001. Frontcode had operated several cache servers to aid WPNP network operation.

Downloads can be very fast for popular songs since the user can run a "multi-point download" that simultaneously downloads the same file in small pieces from several users. Some consider WinMX to be much safer than many other file sharing software, mainly because no spyware and adware comes with WinMX.

The WinMX program houses a few built-in features such as bandwidth monitoring, short messaging, and hosting chatrooms and functions as an OpenNap client. Users can negotiate an exchange of their files with the help of the short messaging system or chat. After the transfers have started, each gets the option of selecting an individual bandwidth for the other to make sure both transfers end more or less at the same time. There are a few drawbacks of the program itself. It may use up huge amounts of memory when run for a long time, and there is an upper limit to the size of files that can be shared (2GB), this design decision was to maintain Windows98 support.

Function

To get started, users connect to the WinMX Peer Network (WPN) either as a primary or secondary user. A majority of the functions on the WPN are available to both users, but primary users need to spend more bandwidth, tend to have better connections, and have the ability to host chat rooms. Secondary users use very little idle bandwidth, but their prolonged connection to the network is not always stable.

Sharing files in WinMX

WinMX users can share nearly every type of file using the network. The most common file types such as audio, video, images, and archive files are available by default, and all others can be configured in the program's settings. It is also considered a very safe network with a limited number of viruses. WinMX also has a file-size restriction. Files over 2GB will not be shared, and must be split into chunks smaller than 2GB in order to be shared. Although there is no limit to the number of files a user can share on the WPNP network, when a list of a specific user's files is requested (using the "Browse" function) only a limited amount will be shown. These limits are 5,000 files for a Primary connection, and 3,000 files for a Secondary connection. However, all of the shared files will be visible to a general search via filename or hash. These limitations do not apply on OpenNap servers.

Searching for files

Users can search for almost any file in WinMX. When a user sends out a search, the search is spread throughout the network. If a file is found, the HASH number of the file along with the way to find it is sent through the network to the user who made the search. Searches can also be made with hash numbers instead of words and numbers.

Even before the WinMX network was originally shut down in 2005, there were increasing reports of fake files and corrupted data in the networks. The people hosting the files, called 'flooders', connect as secondary users. If certain trigger words are included by a user when searching for a file, that user gets many results which are not real. Along with wasting the user's time, the resulting large bandwidth often crashes the user and the "Primary" to which he or she is connected. This flooding continued when the efforts of third parties resurrected WinMX days after its closure. However, the newest third-party patch available now blocks fake files.

Chatting

WinMX allows a person to host chatrooms with its built-in Chat function. There are some rooms reserved for chat, some for trading files, and some which allow both. There are typically around 1,500 to 2,000 chatrooms open at any given time in a multitude of languages. WinMX also allows its users to message each other using its Private Message function regardless of whether or not they are in the same chat room or are downloading from/uploading to each other. However, settings allow any user to block messages from users if they choose. It is also possible to host chatrooms in languages other than English, such as Japanese, German, French and Italian.

OpenNap

WinMX started out as a Peer-to-Peer program that connected to OpenNap servers. It can still connect to many OpenNap servers. These servers enable users to connect to a wider userbase and also receive many more search results. Two advantages of running OpenNap is the ability to have a permanent list of friends called a hotlist and the ability to display an unlimited number of files for sharing.

Translations

WinMX is natively run in the English language, but language files can be installed to translate menus into the following languages: Chinese, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish.

Official closing

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.

Resurrection

By September 23, 2005, users were able to download two unofficial patches for WinMX from two unrelated websites. These patches worked by modifying the DNS lookup WinMX uses to find peer caches. When WinMX tries to find the Frontcode peer caches (central servers essential for the operation of WinMX), it is instead directed to look up one of the new peer caches set up by the WinMX communities. Although these patches reconnected users, the official closure caused the user base to decrease, and those who remained were split between the patches, causing rifts between them. Each group wanted users to get reconnected using their patch and not the patch of the other group.

In 2008, a new patch was released to coincide with the third anniversary of the two previous patches' release date. Known as the "WinMX Community Patch", it was created through the joint effort of an independent, third-party programmer and the cooperative input and testing from the two communities. Supported and available for download by both groups, it is intended to replace the previous patches being used, allowing all users to once again connect to a single set of peer caches, unifying all users for the first time since the official closure of WinMX in 2005. There has also been some progress in developing an open source version of WinMX that will feature many security fixes and updates and remain compatible with older client versions.

Third-party programs

In addition to the program and patches, developers and WinMX users have created third party programs to either enhance the chat room function or to control uploading by others peers.

Chat

Most of the software that has been made by third-party developers are for use in the WinMX chat rooms. They include bots, servers to host rooms, and plugins. Bots are used in the chat rooms to either make it more lively, introduce games, or to moderate users, maintain lists of the files a user in a chat room has, and more. Other plugins perform automatic functions including displaying music files currently playing on the user's computer and aid in posting colored ASCII pictures in rooms.

Chat servers are used primarily to host rooms. This is so that room administrators can host rooms more effectively. A big advantage of chat servers is that a chat room can be accessed without having to run a full copy of WinMX. Some also contain useful shortcuts or menus to make administrating a channel easier. For normal users, chat clients or the WinMX client itself can be used to view rooms independently of the server. Web listings of the chat room are also available and can be accessed using software.

Upload managers

Upload managers are used to control the upload rate of peers and can block certain kinds of peers from downloading, including those who do not share any files.

External links

• Archive of WinMX homepage (from November 2004, site is defunct as of September 2005)
• What Happened to the WinMX Network? - September 29, 2005 About.com article

See also

• WinNY, a privately developed "sequel" to WinMX for Japanese users
• Share (P2P), a Japanese successor to WinNY
• Perfect Dark (P2P), a Japanese successor to Share