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Direct Connect is (originally) a peer-to-peer file sharing application written by NeoModus , and today is the general type of application used in a Direct Connect network.
The Direct Connect network is not as de-centralised as Gnutella or FastTrack, since it uses hubs which connect a group of users. Different hubs often have special areas of interest. Hubs often only admit users who share some set amount of bytes or files. Chatting is built into the protocol since the start, and so most hubs are actually small communities, more than just anonymous filesharing.
The original Neo-modus client has, in many users eyes, been superseded by other clients such as DC++, but still continues to be in wide use. The alternative open source clients are generally considered to have more features and fewer bugs than the original. There are in turn additional modified versions of these (see below for a list of DC++ mods), developed for specialized communities (e.g., music-sharing communities) or for features that are either experimental or have been rejected to be included in the base client. A good example of an experimental feature would be hashing: the BCDC++ crew did the research to determine what hashing algorithm and setup would work best, and it was later implemented in DC++. There is continued interest to add requested features (such as ratings, hashes, language packs, etc.) to the Direct Connect-protocol/community, and mostly in a way that would allow the original Neo-modus client to cooperate with newer clients.
Direct Connect hubs seem to have difficulties scaling above 1,000 users, probably due to the broadcast-centricity of the protocol. It is not uncommon, however, to see five thousand or more users on a hub hosted on a 100 megabit connection, and one hub recently broke the 10,000-user limit, albeit with searching disabled. Many other Direct Connect file-sharing communities seek to keep their populations low, and their very existence under the radar of media industries seeking legal means to stem the flow of digital exchange of copyrighted material.