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Hydranode Project Version 0.1 Released
By Simon Moon – Respect P2P

May 15th, 2004 somewhere in Estonia. A lone developer decided to try and work on a p2p client himself. Formerly having worked on other clients, such as aMule, LMule, xMule and Sharedeamon, he is no stranger to P2P. Now its time for something new. Hydranode strives to be a multi network application that runs on many different platforms.

Alo Sarv, aka Madcat is the developer of what today stands as Hydranode v0.1 on the Hydranode Home page. Its running on Windows, Linux and on MacOSX all the same. The core of it runs as a stand alone client. To work with it, the user can currently use telnet to access the core and send commands. With the current test versions, that works flawlessly. Later versions will include a graphical user interface that will make this task a lot easier for the user. Versions for windows will include a “all-in-one” package, where the user wont see the workings as he can now, and use the client like he would Emule or Azureus now.

So what can you do, besides run it and connect your telnet client to it? Its first supported network is the eDonkey network and does that pretty well. You can search on servers you are connected to, it will run downloads, complete them and save them locally. A cancel command is also included, where the whole fancy already ends. It is a basic and very early version, but it does what it is supposed to do, and does so well.

The release of the 0.1 version called for a short interview with Alo Sarv himself.

RP2P: What made you start Hydranode in the first place?

Alo: I believed I could do better [than the existing solutions].

RP2P: Do you still believe that?

Alo: Definitely (smiles). There’s no point in doing something if you don’t believe in doing it good.

RP2P: It’s been one year, a long time for such a project. Most projects that strive to be what you have done now, die off long before they reach a workable state such as Hydranode has now. What made you keep at it and not abandon it?

Alo: I’m well aware of the amount of dead projects on sourceforge. When I felt weak, I simply went there and looked at those good ideas, but dead projects, and promised that this won’t happen to Hydranode.

RP2P: Looking back, what was the most defining moment of Hydranode so far?

Alo: What do you mean under “defining moment”? Hydranode is a constantly evolving, changing project, and it has re-defined it’s own existence several times already. You can’t really pinpoint a place in time which was “the most defining” moment. I’d like to think of Hydranode as a more dynamic, constantly evolving entity.

RP2P: Then let me rephrase, at what point did you make the most drastic definition for Hydranodes future?

Alo: When I initially started, I had some ideas, but no clear vision of the things to come. However, when we spent nearly two months [in summer 2004] analysing and designing it with you and fluffy, the vision of true multi network client became clear. Everything after has merely evolved from that base idea/vision. With the preparations, and the final launch of 0.1.0 of HydraEngine, the vision was further re-defined (or perhaps just evolved to next level?), since we’re finally nearing the stage of graphical interface design and implementation, and that opens up a whole new set of visions and opportunities.

RP2P: One year has passed. How many more years you think you want to keep working on Hydranode or related projects?

Alo: As many as it takes to implement all my visions and ideas. And there’s a lot of them. At this time, I don’t see any concrete “end”, nor a reason why I should stop working on Hydranode or related projects. I love what I do, why should I stop doing something I love doing?

RP2P: If some company comes to you and gives you one million dollars to drop Hydranode right now, what would you do?

Alo: Why should I stop doing something I love doing? Money isn’t a factor, I’ve lived poorly before, and can live poorly in the future. Let’s put it this way – if I was after money, I’d get a job as a corporate programmer, but instead I choose to spend 24/7 developing free software. If getting one million dollars means I have to stop doing what I love doing, then thanks for the offer, but no. One might argue that with one million dollars, I could do what I love doing just as well. But it’s not the same – it’s the “selling your soul to Satan” thing. I’ve put a part of me into Hydranode, and selling Hydranode would feel like selling a part of myself.

RP2P: When can the users expect to have a version with an ease of use like Emule or Azureus?

Alo: We’re planning a mini-interface (small, compact, yet fully usable/functional), which is currently in early research/analysis phase, and is scheduled to be released late summer/early autumn. Full user interface will be designed and developed following that, but I wouldn’t want to specify any dates on that at this time – it depends on too many factors.

RP2P: You have one wish free for Hydranode, what do you choose?

Alo: I wish there were more hours in my day, so I could work more and longer, to provide better product, faster. To clarify: this should affect only the members of the project, outside world should follow the same time line as always, otherwise it wouldn’t change anything

RP2P: Is there something you would like to tell to the readers of this article?

Alo: New projects / products tend to create very high expectations among users, which are often quickly discarded on first (or second) impression. What one should understand is that software is something that evolves over time. Projects with good first impressions often fail completely when looking deeper. And just as often, things happen vice versa. What I’m trying to say is – no matter what your first (or second) impression of Hydranode is, give it time, give me time, to fulfill my visions and your expectations, and judge it based on it’s evolution, rather than a single point in time.

RP2P: Thank you for your time, and good luck with Hydranode.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, May 15th, 2005 at 3:41 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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