Bearshare
What is BearShare? BearShare 5.1.0 is the
latest version of our leading file sharing program.
Intuitive design, millions of users, safety
features and quick setup - what more could you
ask for? How about Free exclusive BearShare
music, help with common questions and Free tools!
Come see what everyone is talking about.
BearShare utilizes a completely decentralized
peer to peer network, and is the most advanced
file sharing application around. Trade any type
of file: mp3, video, images, software, etc.
It runs on Windows.
This is a publisher description
from The company
Bearshare
review
BearShare is a popular closed source Gnutella
client software package from a company called
Free Peers, Inc. The software allows its users
to share files directly from person to person
by using the Gnutella protocol. It runs under
Microsoft Windows and comes in several versions,
including an advertising supported version,
and a paid pro version with no advertisements,
and a Lite (stripped down) free version.
When it comes to Gnutella clients and participation
in the Gnutella Developers Forum (GDF), BearShare
is seen as one of the forerunners alongside
LimeWire due to its wide implementation of GDF
proposals and stable networking. Unfortunately,
it has not achieved the same fame as the eDonkey
network due to a lack of Partial-File Sharing
(PFS). However, current versions contain PFS
support.
There is, though, bad blood between Free Peers
and the developer of Shareaza, Michael Stokes
for naming the network his client introduced
Gnutella2, without asking or making any note
of it in the GDF. Vincent Falco, main developer
of BearShare, threatened to ban connections
to Shareaza clients for this action. It should
be noted that Gnutella2's specifications were
quickly released in full, and Shareaza has now
been released under the GNU GPL.
Following the June 27th, 2005 United States
Supreme Court Decision on the MGM Studios, Inc.
v. Grokster, Ltd. case the BearShare support
forums have been closed. Most of the forum regulars
have gone across to the Technutopia forum pages
where support is now available for BearShare.
