The Last Word

This chapter looked at the shortcuts you can use to create certain types of peer-to-peer applications by working with existing peer-to-peer networks. The first choice, using Windows Messenger, provides a reliable communication infrastructure that could support your own custom business processes and clients. The second option, using Groove, allows you to develop a rich set of collaborative tools with a full-featured toolset, although it requires a user license.

In the next chapter, we'll consider a free peer-to-peer framework that extends the Remoting infrastructure included with .NET: the Intel Peer-to-Peer Accelerator Kit.