P2P Networking

Peer to peer networks in recent years have become more popular. I have used P2P programs to download music from Limewire. The unlimited access to free music is a great invention. However, there are risks that come along with the use of peer to peer networks. Someone will upload their music to the network and share it with anyone who accesses it. This will cause problems because there is an unstated etiquette to what people are posting on the web. The song that is uploaded to the system may contain files that could harm your computer and make it slow. Personally, I notice that Limewire does slow down my computer, just because of all the things I have downloaded and I’m sure at some point spy ware and ads have been downloaded to my laptop. I go through precautions however and try to scan my computer as much as I can, because I just can’t bring myself to deleting Limewire because it allows me to listen to any song for free.

There are legal issues however. Many music industries feel free downloads of music hurts their industry. However, the other side to that opinion is that people use P2P networks to download songs to sample them and go out and buy the CD. Even though music downloads have gone up, according to Harvard Business School’s website music sales have gone up too. Not all uses of P2P networks are legal. Most music downloads are illegal because they infringe on copy write laws. According to the UD websites, they ask students not to use such programs. They tell the students to be responsible and delete all programs such as Limewire and Kazaa which are used to download pictures, music, movies and programs. Even though they say that downloading music infringes on copy write laws I don’t think it should. I don’t think the government will ever be able to stop people from downloading from these networks. It is just too convenient and cost effective. I think the music industry should release more free music on their own personal websites and lower their costs to counteract the demand for free illegal downloads.

Comparing Microsoft Word And Google Docs

Google Docs and Microsoft Word have a lot of the same attributes. In many ways they are also very different. I personally use Microsoft Word and had never even heard of Google Docs. I was also unaware that documents could be posted online. After researching information on Google Docs I discovered that this program may prove to be useful on other assignments in the future.

Google Docs allows a user to type documents at any working computer. It also allows a user to access their documents once uploaded at any location with internet access, so wherever you are you can access your work. On Google Docs you are also able to create spreadsheets and even presentations. Also on Google Docs you are able to email your documents to a listed email and the document will be automatically added to your file. Although Google Docs has many great qualities, Microsoft word has qualities that I admire and prefer.

Microsoft Word is able to perform many tasks other than typing a document. On Word a user is able to make graphs, organization charts, diagrams, and even insert pictures. Word also has a thesaurus tool as well as a word count. Word also has an assistant to help with your writing issues. Word is able to bring up previous documents that have been saved on the computer also. Though Word and Google Docs have differences they also have similarities.

Both Word and Google Docs allow the user to change the font and color of the font, although Word has more variety in font style. They both also allow you to change the page spacing’s and style. Google Docs allows the user to add a comment into their writings in which Word does not. Word has themed pages which Google Docs does not. They have many differences but they both still allow the user to type a document.

One of the advantages of using Google Docs is that the user is able to access their documents anywhere with internet access. Another advantage of using Google Docs over Microsoft Word is that your documents are able to be posted online. One of the disadvantages of using Google Docs is that there is not much font variety. Another disadvantage is that Google Docs is primarily based on publishing documents online and is not able to do as much formatting as Microsoft Word is able to.