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The fundamental
idea of Groove is the Shared Space. |
| Groove
is almost always a peer-to-peer application That is, messages and files are shared directly, unless users are temporarily off-line, files being transferred are too large, users are behind firewalls and require intermediate storage stops, or the number of recipients of a message or file is large. In these cases, Groove utilizes a relay hub to coordinate data flow among devices. Groove can also be used to create virtual private networks (VPNs) of peers. This is possible with Groove because the identities of users on Groove are authenticated by digital signatures (encrypted keys that detail the identity of users on the network) that reside on the client device and on a central registry server. Each user in a Groove Shared Space connects and is permitted to collaborate with others within the Shared Space by exchanging digital signatures. It is possible with such a strongly encrypted peer system to create an extremely elegant and easy-to-use VPN across the public Internet. With Groove , PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) is obviated by the presence of exchangeable identity markers (digital signatures) on the Groove client. Groove
has distinguished itself from competitors (apart from the deep technology
and intuitive user interface) by offering its product as a platform
for decentralized collaboration. This means Groove is not simply an
application like instant messaging or file transfering. Instead, developers
and corporations can introduce brand new applications that ride on
top of Groove.
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