EDonkey2000

What is eDonkey2000 ?

The eDonkey2000 P2P application was the pioneer behind the ED2K network, but has lost its dominance to the eMule client. Originally it was the only client for the network and proprietary to boot, displaying ads to the users, which could only be disabled by buying a license.

The first replacement was the (at the time) controversial open-source client mlDonkey, mainly for Unix-like operating systems. Later came eMule, which has sired many variants, of which aMule is one.

An official replacement has also appeared, by the name of Overnet, a P2P network which more decentralized than the server-based ED2K network. The eMule community has begun a similar project by the name of Kademlia, probably in response to the Overnet client.