Locutus Preview Released

An anonymous reader writes "FreeNet's Ian Clarke has released the preview version of his latest P2P endeavor Locutus. Aimed at the corporate world, Locutus adds encryption to the mix - new for a P2P client - to secure files traded across the network as well as the ability to scan within text files to improve search results. Locutus Lite is the free version for those who are more concerned with trading movies and tunes. Locutus Enterprise is the pay version that Clarke hopes to lure corporations to shell out money for (for secure trading of research and other documents). Those interested in trying the preview can download it here."

Microsoft..

[anubi]

I think this is one of the things that peeve me so much about their "improvements"... from the Locutus site mentioned...

The application is only 400k in size, but many users will notice that the download is over 20MB. This is because Locutus relies on Microsoft's .NET framework, and if a user doesn't have .NET they will automatically download a version of the installer that does.

Damm!

Locutus does look nifty though in that the files can be shared encrypted.. I take it that one must pass muster to even look at the filenames though.. otherwise what difference is it from sharing files already encrypted with pgp or similar...

What's wrong with other tools?

[oingoboingo]

Locutus Enterprise is the pay version that Clarke hopes to lure corporations to shell out money for (for secure trading of research and other documents).

Maybe I'm missing a point somewhere here...what's wrong with centralised file/document servers, or groupware like Notes, GroupWise or Exchange for sharing documents and research within a company? Why P2P? Will we look back at these stories in a couple of years and think the same way about them as we now do with stories about 'Java applications storming the desktop', 'Push applications redefining the way we work on the net', or 'Debian releases new version before 2025'?

P2P for Linux...

[Doomrat]

When are they going to release a good P2P program for Linux? Not that gnutella crud, I'm talking about something like KaZaA that even people stuck on 56K can use well. I'm fed up with wine & KaZaA lite dying every 5 seconds.

23Meg memory footprint

[tandr]

... for application that supposed to be in background??? I read it as not only Java has memory footprint problems, but .NET based ones too. :(

freenet?

[Valpis]

And if compared to freenet, any benefits?

Re:What's wrong with other tools?

[Sanity]

what's wrong with centralised file/document servers?

How much of the average knowledge worker's output gets uploaded to centralized file servers or websites? Over 80% of a corporation's data still resides on their employee's desktop computers - and as was demonstrated by Napster, P2P is very good indeed when it comes to searching desktop PCs.

Will we look back at these stories in a couple of years and think the same way about them as we now do with stories about...

...or 'Web to revolutionize the way we look for information' - hmmmm, perhaps some buzzwords do live up to the hype.

Re:This is great!

[anubi]

Encrypted or not, they will just set traps.

They will bait you to their site, and when you go onto their site to retrieve some file they say they have and attempt to download it, they will log where their server is sending it to.

And a letter from their legal counsel will go out in the next day's mail.

Sorry to rain on parade..but I do not think encryption is going to do much to help mask P2P filesharing itself... but it will help a lot in the sense that if you snared some file from someone's P2P server but did not know how to unlock it, you just get a file of something you can not use at all - it may as well be digitized interstation FM hiss for all you know. Or it might be configured so that if you do not know the access codes, you won't be able to get the remote server to send the file.

Re:who would pay for this?

[interiot]

At our site, we specifically have a separate system set up for spreading large files to our sites around the world. It only holds files for three days to emphasize its use as a transport agent and keep disk space down. If a department constantly uses a lot of disk space, sure, they should spend the money to get a proper ftp site. But if you send files only sporadically, and sometimes very large files, this can be good.

Also, it'd be nice to cut down on internet charges by using a local copy of the nightly builds if they're available, so something self-organizing like this would be nice.

Re:Trademark...

[ortholattice]

With an obviously invented name like "Locutus"...

It is a Latin word. I believe "locutus" is the perfect participle of the Latin loqui ("to speak"), so it would mean "having spoken". So for the Star Trek character, it is suggests a spokesman for the Borg. For the "Locutus" software product, which I don't think is a "a toy, action figure, poseable figure or a doll," it might be suggestive of a source of information.

Re:simpler solution for trading research

[kalidasa]

Actually, no. E-mail with PGP wastes a lot of disk space in the enterprise that a P2P client won't - with a P2P client, you can just email everyone in a distribution list a path to a WP or other large doc and let those who might have a use for it look themselves. As a matter of fact, this is exactly what I need to solve a problem I'm having...

Re:Another 20MB.

[Reziac]

Actually, my first thought was "and if I install this .NET framework, what might it break??" My next was "will it only work on the XP box?" About that point, I began losing interest in the product.