Editing EXeem

{{short description|Defunct peer-to-peer file sharing client}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2015}}{{lowercase|eXeem}}'''eXeem''' was a [[peer-to-peer]] (P2P) [[file sharing]] [[Client (computing)|client]] using the [[BitTorrent (protocol)|BitTorrent]] [[Communications protocol|protocol]]. eXeem was designed to replace the need for [[Centralized system|centralized]] trackers<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article.ns/?id=dn6830|title=Movie file-sharing hubs poised to decentralise|last=Knight|first=Will|date=22 December 2004|website=New Scientist|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050107085132/https://www.newscientist.com/article.ns/?id=dn6830|archive-date=7 January 2005|url-status=dead|access-date=25 July 2019}}</ref> (servers which co-ordinate the transfer of [[metadata]] across a BitTorrent [[computer network|network]]). It largely failed to achieve this goal, and the project was canceled and eXeem's network was shut down by the end of 2005.

eXeem was written in [[C++]] using the open source [[libtorrent]] library for its BitTorrent functionality.

== Overview ==
eXeem was created by Swarm Systems Inc. which is located in [[Saint Kitts and Nevis]]. The company employed [[Andrej Preston]], the founder of [[Suprnova.org]], as its [[spokesperson]] and public face of eXeem. Five thousand Suprnova.org users were selected to take part in a private [[beta test]] of eXeem before the public beta was released on  January 21, 2005.

eXeem's developers expected to implement the following features:
* On-the-fly [[encryption]] and decryption
* Searching by file [[hash function|hash]]
* [[Quality of service]] features
* Proper [[Universal Plug and Play]]-support
* User comments & ratings, but only when the file has been downloaded (to prevent fake ratings)
* Minimum limited upload rate (5 kB/s) to stop [[Leech (computing)|leechers]].

== Criticism of eXeem ==
[[File:Seacay exeem linuxbin.jpg|thumb|250px|right|"Seacay", the unofficial Linux eXeem client]]

Criticism of eXeem arose soon after it debuted and included:
* eXeem's for-profit operating model, including support through advertising (much akin to [[Kazaa]]) and a public beta that included HTML ads supported by Cydoor, which is widely considered to be spyware.<ref>[http://p2pnet.net/story/3641 P2PNet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060509233114/http://p2pnet.net/story/3641 |date=9 May 2006 }}, retrieved 2 May 2006</ref> Ads-free versions called ''eXeem Lite''[https://web.archive.org/web/20151222085949/http://www.exlite.pl/] and ''BIT eXeem'' were subsequently released, and eXeem later replaced Cydoor with WhenU from version 0.21 onward.
* [[Closed source]] code development, in contrast with the [[open-source model]] followed by the most popular [[BitTorrent (protocol)|BitTorrent]] software, on which eXeem is based.
* No initial [[Linux]] or [[macOS|Macintosh]] versions, with no ability to allow third parties to [[Porting|port]] the code beyond [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] (as eXeem is closed source).
* Seacay was released as a Linux Client for the eXeem network when eXeem version 0.21 was released (see screenshot, right )

== Network ==

The eXeem network used super-peers that were used to track torrents (as ordinary [[BitTorrent tracker]]s). These super-peers were also responsible for maintaining file lists, comments and ratings for part of the files in the network. When a peer that was tracking a torrent was closed or went down, a new peer was assigned to be the tracker for that particular torrent.

== See also ==
* [[Distributed hash table]] (DHT) used in trackerless torrents
* [[Peer exchange]] (PEX) used in trackerless torrents

=== References ===
<references />

== External links ==
* [http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=632 News article on Slyck] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222083728/http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=632 |date=22 December 2015 }}&nbsp;– includes partial transcript of Sloncek interview
* [http://www.exeem.ws Spanish eXeem tutorial]

{{File sharing}}

[[Category:File sharing software]]