Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t inevitable, but now comes a peer-to-peer file-sharing software program that its creators compare to KaZaA vocally, claiming to be the program that KaZaA employees as well as P2P users can love.
Called TrustyFiles, it boasts no bundled software or adware and accessibility to multiple P2P networks, according to creators RazorPop. The program also uses the Fast Track network which KaZaA, Grokster, iMesh, and other P2P programs use for search, download, and sharing, but that, RazorPop said, is where the similarities end.
TrustyFiles also boasts of accessing the Bit Torrent and Gnutella/Gnutella 2 networks and can download files from multiple networks and the Web at once, the company boasted. Users can also choose between public and more restricted, user-defined private file sharing.
But they’re not shy about riding a little publicity on KaZaA’s back—right down to using a KaZaA document that notes the P2P network and parent Sharman Networks’s own employees don’t always like KaZaA.
“Many people that work for Sharman Networks (developer of KaZaA) and its partners hate installing KaZaA on their machine," according to the document in question, said to have been written by Sharman chief technology officer Philip Morle last year. That document, “KaZaA Technology 2004," was released as part of an ongoing litigation case between Sharman and the Australian entertainment industry.
For RazorPop, that document is mother’s milk. “Well, duh!” said chief executive Marc Freedman, who developed TrustyFiles. “Their secret is out. Does anyone like bundled software or being limited to one network? I don’t blame the disenchanted KaZaA staff.
“Fast Track is a terrific file sharing network with a huge user base. It screams for a software client that does justice to the network and doesn’t abuse its users.
“TrustyFiles is like KaZaA Ultra. We give KaZaA users the same Fast Track searches and downloads but with more,” he continued. “More networks, more search results, and more downloads. All with no added software surprises. What’s not to like?”
Freedman even invited Sharman workers to give TrustyFiles a pull. “Oh, and everyone on our staff loves TrustyFiles,” he crowed.
