Where does P2P work?

Let’s be clear where P2P makes its most valuable contribution. According to author AndyOram: “P2P is useful where the goods and services you’re trying to get at lie at many endpoints; in other words, where the value of information lies in the contributions of many users rather than the authority of one.” Of course this need exists outside the realms of technology, where individuals have always needed direct access to information and services that can only be provided by their peers, not by the BBC, Rupert Murdoch or Microsoft. In fact, quite a useful technology was developed to address this need when individuals happened to be at a distance from each other. It was called the telephone and as Alexander Graham Bell is alleged to have predicted: “One day there will be a telephone in every major city”.

Pure P2P, in the technological sense, has limited applications. According to Chas Linn, Technical Producer at Epic Group plc: “The sharing of data from hard disk to hard disk across networks only makes sense where the technology is really easy to use; where a good proportion of the information providers have permanent Internet connections; where the files are finished items, not works in progress (otherwise we have version control hell); and where quality control is not a key issue.” True P2P, on the other hand, is unstoppable, because that’s where the majority of communication takes place – face-to-face, on the ‘phone, by text messaging, email and even post. In summary, sticking to the technical definition, we’re unlikely to find much with P2P to interest the training community. Looking more broadly, although still within the confines of computer networks, we may be on to something.