One of the internal documents titled "Kazaa Technology 2004" written by Sharman's chief technology officer discusses how awful its own software really is. Sharman's employees actually hated even installing software due to bad effects the software has on their computers. It mentions that Sharman needs to be careful to avoid installing too much adware during Kazaa's installation.
The effects of the adware not only affect Kazaa, but also other activities such as while browsing webpage's on the Internet. Sharman claims that Kazaa only uses minimal PC resources which will unlikely be noticed by the end user. However according to the document, Kazaa uses quite a lot of resources when the software is running as a supernode and does not make it clear to the user of what resources it is using let alone how to control this. Finally the document mentions about the technology's legal risks.
This document was part of a bundle during the Australian copyright trial against Sharman and confidentiality was rejected by Justice Murray Wilcox. GristyMcFisty submitted the following news via our news submit :
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The document, entitled "Kazaa Technology 2004" and written by Phil Morle, says that Sharman needs to be careful about installing too much adware on a computer upon the installation of Kazaa. The document is part of a bundle for which a request for confidentiality was rejected this week by Justice Murray Wilcox, the judge overseeing a copyright trial against Sharman in Australia. The adware "slows down users' machines and can affect other activity such as browsing the Internet," Morle wrote. "We are also adding increasing p2p networks to the users' machines. These are good value to users but they use more resources and create confusion for users as to what resources they are sharing and where this can be controlled." These two issues could be reasons why Kazaa manages to "lose users by over-stepping the mark," the document said, adding that the company should take into account how many employees at Sharman refuse to install the peer-to-peer software. Read the full article here. |
The bad effects and major adware infestation of Kazaa is in my opinion the main reason for the drop in its usage. During Kazaa's installation, pretty much all of its adware and spyware components are mandatory :r, unless the user opts to fork out for the 'Plus' version.
For a while, users who resisted the adware could easily get hold of a 'Lite' version which is Kazaa with the adware removed. However Sharman tried shutting down Kazaa Lite and forced Google to eliminate search results to Kazaa Lite websites using the DMCA legislation, thus forcing Kazaa Lite's development to continue underground and more difficult to get hold of. Add up all these issues along with fake files, viruses, removing its listing from download.com and being one of the most targeted network by the RIAA, no wonder Kazaa is no longer the #1 file sharing network. :p
Feel free to discuss and find out more about Kazaa and file sharing on our Music Downloads, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) & Legal Issues Forum.
Source: C|net news - Digital Media
