Status update and appeal for help

Dear Supporters,

Time for a status update, and also an appeal.  As you may be aware we 
have been working hard on a major improvement to the fundamentals of 
how Freenet searches for and retrieves information called "Next 
Generation Routing".  This holds the promise of dramatically 
increasing Freenet's speed and usability, while also creating 
exciting possibilities like live audio broadcasting over Freenet.

Several months ago we decided to postpone a major release so that we
could focus on these exciting new developments.  Since then we, and
Matthew Toseland - our full time developer, have got a trial version
of the new routing algorithm up and running and are making rapid
progress in identifying and tracking down the bugs that inevitably
accompany such a major overhaul.

Unfortunately, since most of our donations are made in the days
following a major release, our funds are now extremely depleted to
the extent that we may be unable to renew Matthew's contract. 
Matthew asks for only $1,500 per month, which is a fraction of what
he could earn elsewhere.  Losing Matthew would be a major blow to the
project.

I am generally reluctant to make this kind of appeal to our 
announcements mailing list, my last such appeal was over half a year 
ago, and I will refrain from making such appeals in the future unless 
there is no alternative.

Therefore, if you think you can help the project by making a donation 
- we would be most grateful.  You can make a donation by credit card, 
"E-Gold", or via snail-mail by visiting our donations page at:
   http://freenetproject.org/index.php?page=donate

We also recently added the ability for supporters to make a monthly 
subscription of $5, $10, or $20.  This has the advantage of providing 
a more reliable source of funding to the project.  Of course, we 
still welcome one-time donations as we always have.

Yours gratefully,

Ian Clarke
Freenet Project Coordinator

-- 
Ian Clarke                			            [email protected]
Coordinator, The Freenet Project	      http://freenetproject.org/
Weblog				     http://slashdot.org/~sanity/journal