A few weeks ago, Nullsoft, the creator of Winamp, released the file-sharing software Gnutella. When the Gnutella site went up it was bombarded with people wanting to take a look at Nullsoft's first dive into the file-sharing arena that was dominated by Napster. Unfortunately, the Gnutella site wasn't up for long.

Nerd Herd representative and current Gnutella developer Gene Kan.   Download Gnutella now.

On hearing that one of its subsidiaries had released software that was highly controversial, America Online put an end to the Gnutella site and the software, stating that it was an "unauthorized freelance project." That didn't stop the software from spreading.

Thanks to the thousands of people who downloaded Gnutella, the software is still alive, and web sites dedicated to Gnutella have become quite popular, as they're the only source of Gnutella information since the official site was taken offline. But none have been more popular than the Nerd Herd Gnutella site, which provided detailed information on the original software and contained versions of Gnutella that had been reverse engineered.

When we ventured to the site recently, a cryptic message appeared on our screens stating, "3 Days and counting to a new world of Gnutella." Gene Kan, a representative of the Nerd Herd Gnutella project, told ZDNet Music, "We're going to launch a new web site for Gnutella, and we're formalizing it into a project." Kan added, "Whereas before it was just one piece of software from AOL with virtually no documentation, we're going to turn it into a piece of software with documentation and with help and pointers for everyone to develop their own client."

If you haven't heard about Nerd Herd yet, you will. "Nerd Herd is currently [comprised] of [three] people," Kan said. "We're just developers, and UNIX administrators who are trying to get this thing off the ground, and turn it into more than just a bunch of people using, but also a bunch of people contributing to this effort to make Gnutella the next big thing."

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