Re: Freenet Project status report - and request for your assistance

Apologies for the triple-post for those that received it, we were =20
having some problems with the mailing list.

Ian.

On 3 Jul 2006, at 15:50, Ian Clarke wrote:

> Hi all, time for a status update.
>
> The pace of coding on Freenet has increased dramatically since the =20
> release of the 0.7 alpha. We now have an active group of core =20
> developers working with Matthew Toseland (our full-time dev), and a =20=

> growing community of developers working on third-party applications =20=

> through the Freenet Client Protocol. After the rather stagnant =20
> period before the decision to switch to a darknet model, Freenet is =20=

> now more active and vibrant than it has ever been.
>
> Current estimates put the size of the darknet between 300-400 =20
> nodes, not bad for a hard-to-use alpha release, and we are seeing =20
> an average of about 50 commits per week from developers. We have 4 =20
> Google Summer of Code projects working on everything from a new =20
> load-balancing mechanism, to a cross-platform file upload and =20
> download utility (called "Thaw"), and a flexible user-friendly =20
> installer.
>
> We have also been thinking hard about how to minimize the inherent =20
> usability challenges posed by a darknet approach, and with this in =20
> mind, have implemented support for third party applications to add =20
> and remove darknet connections via FCP. This means we can do things =20=

> like write IM plugins to make it very easy to establish connections =20=

> to friends.
>
> We will also be deploying "opennet" functionality, so that users =20
> who don't need the security offered by the darknet, can just start =20
> up a node and get going immediately, as with previous versions of =20
> Freenet, but this time with the benefits of NAT circumvention and a =20=

> UDP-based transport.
>
> On the more administrative side, Florent Daigni=E8re has been a big =20=

> help, setting up a bug tracker (https://bugs.freenetproject.org/), =20
> and a variety of other tools to help streamline Freenet's =20
> development process.
>
> Its not all good news though, despite the generosity of many of our =20=

> users, donations to the project have been unable to keep-up with =20
> the $2300 per month (a meager salary for a software developer in =20
> the UK) needed by Matthew Toseland, and right now we are on the =20
> verge of not being able to continue to pay him - which would =20
> obviously be terrible for the project. In the past, users and =20
> supporters of the project have been extremely generous when we have =20=

> asked them to help us out of a financial hole, and I am hoping that =20=

> you can be similarly generous on this occasion.
>
> With this in mind, I would ask that you visit our donations page on =20=

> the website, it can be found at:
>
>    http://freenetproject.org/donate.html
>
> And please donate anything you can spare.
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Ian Clarke,
> Freenet Project =20
> Coordinator._______________________________________________
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