Morpheus was a
file sharing
File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia (audio, images and video), documents or electronic books. Common methods of storage, transmission and dispersion include ...
and searching
peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network, forming a peer-to-peer network of Node ...
client for
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
, developed and distributed by the company
StreamCast, that originally used the
OpenNap
OpenNap was an open-source Napster server, extending the Napster protocol to allow sharing of any media type, and adding the ability to link servers together. It became popular after the original Napster network was shut down in 2001, but was s ...
protocol, but later supported many different peer-to-peer protocols. On April 22, 2008, distributor StreamCast Networks filed for Chapter 7
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...
after a long legal battle with music companies; all of their employees were laid off and the official download at www.morpheus.com stopped being available, though for a small period the website remained online. As of October 29, 2008, the official Morpheus website is offline, including all other websites owned by StreamCast Networks, specifically MusicCity.com, Streamcastnetworks.com and NeoNetwork.com.
Availability
Users of the Morpheus community have set up a website (at
Gnutella
Gnutella is a peer-to-peer network protocol. Founded in 2000, it was the first decentralized peer-to-peer network of its kind, leading to other, later networks adopting the model.
In June 2005, Gnutella's population was 1.81 million computer ...
Forums.com) where the Morpheus software can still be downloaded. At that site, there is a support
forum and support
chat room
The term chat room, or chatroom (and sometimes group chat; abbreviated as GC), is primarily used to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology, ranging from ...
setup from the site
and within the client.
Presence of adware/spyware
The current version of Morpheus, version 5.5.1, contains no
adware
Adware, often called advertising-supported software by its developers, is software that generates revenue by automatically displaying Online advertising, online advertisements in the user interface or on a screen presented during the installatio ...
or
spyware
Spyware (a portmanteau for spying software) is any malware that aims to gather information about a person or organization and send it to another entity in a way that harms the user by violating their privacy, endangering their device's securit ...
, and no additional software is bundled with Morpheus. However, when Morpheus is open and running, the interface contains online ads that are used to support the application.
During installation, an optional peer-to-peer Morpheus
Toolbar
The toolbar, also called a bar or standard toolbar (originally known as ribbon), is a graphical control element on which on-screen icons can be used. A toolbar often allows for quick access to functions that are commonly used in the program. Some ...
is offered. Both the Morpheus application and the Morpheus Toolbar can be easily uninstalled with Windows Add/Remove Programs commands. However, this was not the case with previous versions.
Version 5.3 didn't install adware or spyware, though it did install some desktop shortcuts to adware websites and the Morpheus Toolbar without user approval.
See also
*
Comparison of file sharing applications
*
Open Music Model
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morpheus (Computer Program)
File sharing software
IRC clients
Gnutella clients
2001 software