Microsoft is beefing up the peer-to-peer capabilities for its Windows XP operating system.
The software giant recently released a development kit for building peer-to-peer applications and an update to Windows XP that adds support for the Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) networking protocol. As previously reported, both of these Windows XP tools are aimed at simplifying the creation of peer-to-peer applications. The tools are available for download from Microsoft"s Web site.
In a peer network, individual machines communicate with one other directly, rather than uploading and downloading information to a central server. The most visible use of peer-to-peer applications is music file-swapping over the Internet, but some software companies assert that peer networking has a role in business applications as well. Groove Networks has built a collaboration application around the idea of sharing documents between networked PCs and communication tools, such as instant messaging. Microsoft is a partial owner of Groove.