RSSStreamCast Issues New Morpheus, Draws Harsh Criticism
By Nate Mook | Published March 5, 2002, 8:26 AM
File sharing giant StreamCast launched a new version of its software last weekend after millions of Morpheus users were locked out of the Kazaa-owned network it had previously accessed. The new Morpheus is instead based completely on the decentralized Gnutella network, the controversial brainchild of AOL/Nullsoft employees. But the change has not fared well for the company, as Morpheus users had grown accustomed to quick searches and reliable downloads that come with a centralized architecture and are now connecting to alternate services - namely KaZaA and Grokster.
StreamCast had been planning to add Gnutella support into its client for some time, but Kazaa BV -- the company that licenses StreamCast and Grokster its software -- refused to supply StreamCast with the required version 1.5 update claiming it had never been paid. StreamCast cried foul last week when the network upgrade rendered Morpheus inoperable and its users scratching their heads. Morpheus became much more popular than both its counterparts, because it lacks the "spyware" advertising that exists in KaZaA and Grokster.
Forced to find an alternative, StreamCast turned to the open source Gnutella client, Gnucleus, written by college student John Marshall. The company slightly modified the program to include advertising and announced that an update was available. "We are pleased to migrate to an open protocol product with the release of Morpheus Preview Edition, which is based on the very large network of Gnutella users," said StreamCast Chief Executive Steve Griffin in a statement.
Although StreamCast violated no license agreements in using the Gnucleus code base, many open source advocates were upset that StreamCast made no effort to notify anyone. On the Gnucleus Web site Marshall wrote, "I don't even know what to think, I wish they contacted me or any of the other gnutella developers or protocol maintainers before doing this. Gnucleus is a honest, well written client. Please don't let this action by StreamCast tarnish your impression of us." However, he noted, "As long as they post their source code and credit us in the program I don't have a problem with this."
Morpheus users have not been so receptive to the change, however. Download sites sporting the new release have been flooded by negative reviews and harsh comments. Griffin tried to appease users in a message on the Morpheus Web site.
"KEEP IN MIND that this is only our preview edition. Any time change occurs, many object and think the old version was better. Our objective is to create a new and exciting software product. Since our company and your p2p network are being attacked, we would appreciate your constructive comments for improvement, not simply criticisms. With you help and input, we will continue to provide the pre-eminent p2p software product in the world," he wrote.
Unsurprisingly, KaZaA has opted to benefit from its competitor's problems. The company released a "Morpheus Migration Tool," which allows former Morpheus users to easily import their settings into KaZaA Media Desktop. The KaZaA Web site now reads: "Morpheus users, come on over to our place...you'll feel quite at home."
I was wondering why Betanew haven't delivered this issue on Morphius, but funally... it's a great article with helpful information. Good job, Betanews:)
By the way, what a sad story. I was just a new user of Morphius and it suddenly went down. Morphius Preview Edition so disappointed me, so I've moved to Kazza 1.5 and it has been working great, even faster than old Morphius. Try it. All you need to do is getting rid of those spywares and it's EASY.
www.zeropaid.com will be helpful for those who are looking for altenative client. Good luck.
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|http://www.project-insomnia.com/grokster.html
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|I never particularly cared for Morpheus so this comes as no surprise to me. For all you Morpheus exiles, download Direct Connect ... it r0x0rz your b0x0rs =)
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|I agree, Morpheus & Kazaa have never come close to being as good as Direct-Connect.
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|Does any of this actually come as a surprise to anyone? KaZaA was recently bought out and there are talks floating around of fees for it in the near future now as well. So they bump Morpheus. I would imagine that if they start charging, Grokster will be next on the chopping block, unless they pony up some cash or are somehow merged with KaZaA's parent company. Not to mention the lawsuits that are flying around that network now too. It's a shame, since I had just recently migrated to using Morpheus from the Gnutella network because I was getting better results and faster download speeds. With all of the spyware that comes with KaZaA and Grokster, it's not worth it to switch. And there are far better Gnutella clients than Morpheus.
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|taken from dslreports.com
Morpheus Takes the Blue Pill
Plans to incorporate anti-copyright technology
Streamcast Networks, the creators of Morpheus, intend to announce Thursday plans that will have the file trading software incorporating anti-copying technology. The technology itself has yet to be defined but Morpheus hopes the move will help the software become "a more legitimate means of music distribution".
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