It doesn't work....going back to FTP

[bentbobb]

*Sigh*...here we go again.
Another wanna-be program promising to change the net and be the next big thing. It doesn't work...period. From the posts on your forum you're obviously having problems. It works for some folks but a lot seem to be having all manner of problems. I wonder how many people try this and then just delete it and move on when it doesn't work. The fact that you're constantly re-writing and coming out with new versions shows that you're having problems. We are a small group of folks who have been looking at something to replace FTP. We know a lot about computers and have no problem configuring stuff. Unfortunately we haven't been able to make this thing work. When it did connect, it was sporadic, and up and downloads where slow. It's not only your F2F program either. We've tried Turtle, Gigatribe, Alliance and other's with similar results. You so-called programmers are obviously a bunch of glorified script kiddies sticking APIs together in the hope that something works. It doesn't. We've had programs that used 98% of our computer's resources while not doing anything. We had ones that wouldn't even install. We had ones that wouldn't connect, or crashed every two minutes, or hosed someone's computer or (place your favourite error here). Whether on various flavours of Windows or Linux (Ubuntu), they crashed, locked-up or just didn't work. We're just going to stick with FTP because (get ready for this...) it works. It's robust and well proven. Regardless of the client, it just effing works. It works first time, everytime, all the time. Non of our favourite FTP clients (I use FileZilla) have ever caused any problems. They all run fast and stable with a minimum of system resources. With the help of no-ip.com we can get a static IP address and there are all manner of simple walk-throughs that show even a neophyte how to forward a port and establish both an internal and external static IP address. Once configured, it works flawlessly and silently. If we where worried about security it's a simple manner to rar files with a password or use PGP to really encrypt them.
Instead of all you folks working at cross purposes, why the heck don't ALL of you working on these F2F programs get together and MAKE JUST ONE THAT ACTUALLY EFFING WORKS!
Argh!

[AnonTor]

All true.

[apoapo]

I am using RS with rl friends and it works great. Please specify your problems instead of bashing developers.

[iddqd]

Dude.... this Programm is kinda new and beta stage... ofc it has problems. ofc it doesnt work like FTP does, FTP is there since ... fuck its there even before the WWW for god sake. ofc that works without problems. I used BitTorrent from the first day on, it was horrible at beginning, really really horrible. months later other clients came out, and the original client became good, too.

And today look to what BT became to? Heck... BT is hughe. And the Internet Community NEEDS something like RS. And if you guys dont have any patience to watch how it develops over the next months, yeh then please stick to whatever youw ant to use. No need for immature inpatience ppl here.

[rndbit]

retroshare works alright. as said it has its problems, but it works. i myself was struggling to get it working. NAT<->NAT connectivity is f-in horrible. Finally i got myself a public ip and thats it. Now it works. Download speeds are good enough - they are limited by our connections and not slow for just no reason. not everyone can get public ip. not every ISP is willing to do that. not everywhere its free or cheap. for retroshare be successful it needs to solve NAT<->NAT, then it will own. And for now ill be an asshole and enjoy this software without a worry because it works for me (finally)

[only1miller]

A man, ravenous with hunger, walks into a kind group of villagers who offer the poor starving man a sandwich. The starving man takes the sandwich willingly and proceeds to eat it. However, after a few bites, the man finds the sandwich not to his liking and instead of courteously returning it, he throws it on the ground and then curses the kind villagers that they would give him such a disagreeable meal, free though it may be.

If you're thinking that this hungry man is a jerk and should just be appreciative of the free work and help of others, then you got the gist.

This is a work in progress, people... and a much needed work at that. FTP, stable and functional though it may be, is robust only when compared to the internet circa 1990. In the year 2012, FTP - though useful - is not a viable framework for file sharing. It doesn't swarm, it doesn't support a decentralized network model, and the way most people will set it up, it is not secure.

I am not in any way affiliated or related to the authors and programmers of RetroShare or the project (just a user) and appreciate that they are trying to create a private peer to peer sharing framework for our benefit. I hope that they continue their development and that one day - as another poster mentioned - it is as popular and stable as the current crop of BT programs.