Izimi: Obsolete File Sharing Program at Launch

A Solution Looking for a Problem

I first learned about Izimi from digg.com. I was reading articles about Scientology, and found that one user in particular had submitted mostly pro-Scientology articles, and articles raving about Izimi. I checked out Izimi.com, and found what may be one of the least useful services to debut since the DotCom era.

On it's web site, Izimi describes itself as "the fastest and simplest way for you to share photos, music, videos...anything, straight from your PC" while many of the digg.com articles described it as a "youtube killer." The web site also advertises, "No limits - share any file type, size and any quality". So far so good. It was sounding like youtube.com or imageshack.us with the ability to share any file type.

The next claim however, is what started setting of warning bells. "Faster - just click and instantly share straight from your PC, no upload needed."

How, exactly can you make files available without uploading them?

The next warning bell cam when I realized it was Windows only. You need to download, and run, a Windows application to make all this magic happen.

Here's how it works. You download their application, run it, and from then on, whenever anyone requests the file it gets uploaded from your PC. They brag about you retaining control of your files, and while it isn't explicitly stated on the web site, if your computer isn't on and their application running, the links to your files won't work. No one will be able to download them.

Izimi describes this as "P2P" technology. While technically accurate, it's misleading. Bittorrent, Kazaa, Limewire and other P2P services work by distributing the load. A single file enters the network, and is served up by multiple users. The more popular a file is, the more people will be serving it up.