Think Peer-To-Peer Systems?

Traditionally reckoner systems role customer server model. This is to a greater extent than of a centralized approach; server sits in that place too responds to clients requests. If 1 server is non plenty for computation/analysis, a "hierarchical" organization of servers model is adopted inward datacenter too cloud computing. One node becomes the master, other nodes deed equally workers. This is called the master-worker model. This elementary model brand feel if y'all accept an infrastructure. Centralized command architecture is simple, hence y'all tin continue the coordination elementary too efficient.

Peer-to-peer model is on the other terminate of the spectrum: it calls for a fully decentralized scheme model. There is no distinguished master. Each node acts equally both server too client, each node is a peer. This model does non involve stable infrastructure too it tin self-organize amongst what is before long available. As such, they are corking for circumventing laws, bans, too censorship.

In 2000s, peer-to-peer systems were all the craze. Peer-to-peer music sharing applications, Napster, Gnutella, too Kazaa, were real pop too successful. There were systems called CAN, Chord, Pastry, too Tapestry. Bittorrent, peer-to-peer communication protocol was besides real popular: "In Nov 2004, BitTorrent was responsible for 25% of all Internet traffic." 

Then, peer-to-peer systems disappeared from the scene inward the adjacent v years or so. The peer-to-peer architecture got abolished, only the best ideas from those locomote flora their agency to traditional datacenter computing. The distributed hash tabular array sentiment got adopted for distributed key-value stores. Bittorrent saw roughly uses inward datacenter application-layer networking. 

Today, in that place seems to endure a revival of peer-to-peer systems amongst blockchains, decentralized attestation, distributed ledgers, too ipfs applications. 

As a distributed systems professor, I should endure exuberant similar everybody else, only I am cautious. (As I wrote inward 2014, distributed is non necessarily to a greater extent than scalable than centralized). The centralized coordination architectures (today's cloud computing too datacenter architectures) accept a potent attraction point: they are elementary too efficient to coordinate. Even too then nosotros mess upwards edifice those systems. So nosotros don't stand upwards much gamble inward building, scaling, too maintaining fully-decentralized systems, permit lone leveraging on them equally scaffolding to build/control/coordinate to a greater extent than sophisticated too scalable applications.

So, almost likely, this volition play out similar to the peer-to-peer systems of 2000. The blockchain architectures volition fade away, only the best ideas of blockchain systems volition endure adopted for adding attestation, authentication too smart-contracts for cloud computing too datacenter applications. Hopefully those ideas tin endure used to cook the problems amongst social networks too brand them used for enabling collaboration to make/build things, where private effort/labor/contribution tin endure tracked too rewarded appropriately. 

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