1)E-Mule has lost a great amount of users in the last years which have moved to other p2p (torrent firstly). Which are, in your opinion, the causes for that and how is going to be in the future?
People are moving to BT because it is said to be just faster (which is IMHO not a must, as it depends on a file's availability and the users' connections anyway) and to be more secure (which is also not quite true, I know a bunch of sued BT users personally, too).
eMule has survived a lot of other P2P networks. As eMule (with Kad) has been decentralized for several years now, I still consider it to be the only future-safe P2P application. I don't think that BT hype will last for another decade, people are already moving away from it (to DDL and Usenet). I still do my best to convince people to try eMule again every day. Most of them stay due to its file diversity and file lifetime.
2)The MOD are certainly fuller of functions in confront of the official version. However, these are still a marginal aspect of eMule. How come?
Uhm, not necessarily "fuller of functions" (see eMule Light or the recent OffFixed mod). However, those which actually are full of features (like NeoMule and the several Morph-like mods) are not really made for eMule newbies. Using the advanced settings takes a bit of technical knowledge. A help file can never replace basic knowledge about the eD2K/Kad network.
Most people also don't like too many prefs options. They want to use eMule, that's all. My beba mod, for example, is based on this, maybe that's why it has a certain number of fans out there...
(I hope I got your question right, lol.)
3)The MOD scene become more conformed lately, probably because some developers enforce functions of most in vogue’s versions up till making their product similar to a kind of collage. This, in your opinion, is a good or bad thing? And why?
Similarity kills mods, diversity improves them. There is no need for a dozen mods which all do the same. My favorite mods are those with outstanding ideas which are not based on C&P coding but on serious brainstorming. NetF WARP or the Tombstone mod are two of them.
Or could you explain to anyone why he should choose ScarAngel instead of StulleMule or zBOOM instead of my AnalyZZUL? I can't.
Of course Copy&Paste is something that simplifies your first steps as a modder, see my first beba versions (or better don't :lol:), nor do I denounce anyone who uses C&P from other mods in order to create a very special mod for himself. My rants are all about those mods published on eMule-Project.
(In the kiddie leecher scene it is even worse, see the dozens of Applejuice-based mods. Take a new string and a new logo.jpg and you're done. What the heck is that all about?)
4)Considering the amount of MOD in circulation at the moment,(as developer) did you ever take account of the hypothesis of grouping together and developing only ¾ of MOD making all of them different from each other, but in the same time enclosing all the various current features and other innovations?
Too many cooks spoil the broth. The current "modder scene" is split into several different groups anyway (the German "scene", for example, consists of eMuleFuture, eMule-Web, and various leecher boards which all work independently of each other), and within there groups there is also some disagreement about what eMule is and what it is not.
However, they are actually grouping together, on eMule-Project.net there are a lot of interesting discussions about features and other ideas.
Regarding the first part of your question:
Most new mods "in circulation" are basically C&P ones, see 3) for that. Some of them die after one or two releases, some of them will be developed for a longer amount of time, but I wouldn't say that a bunch of similar C&P mods is a diversity... there are four or five "official" mods which are regularly updated and innovative. That's all (and enough) to me.
5)Do you think that would be a good idea to leave the Server and concentrate all the attention to Kademlia to educate this part of users or it’s better, according to you, to wait for a more appropriate moment and permit them to get closer gradually?
There is no need for servers anymore. Still there are some clients which don't actually know Kad (eMule Plus, ...), but I don't think this should be taken into consideration. Of course I can't force anyone to use Kad only, but I recommend so.
6)Which are the strengths and news of your MOD/MODS?
As most readers should know, both the beba mod and the AnalyZZUL project are mine.
1) beba:
beba's strength is its lightweight attitude. I removed a lot of disputable options like "disable credit system" or "don't try to transfer full chunks" and some rather exotic functionality (speech notifications, IRC and several other stuff) which I considered as useless.
Besides the several removals, beba also has some extra features (http://beba.emulefuture.de/index.php?page=documentation#02) like the most advanced leecher detection (WiZaRd's Client Analyzer), a slot control and an improved source finding functionality.
The latest "public" beba version (2.50) was published in March 2009. I actually wanted to release 2.51 as an update in April, but some more stuff got added and had to be tested and all that...
Right now, beba 2.51 is in its beta stage. The current build has a lot of code improvements and some small bugfixes, it also features WiZaRd's newest Client Analyzer version. However, I can't release it before WiZaRd gives the go-ahead for his Analyzer which is in its beta stage, too, so I think it will take another couple of days before it will actually be announced.
2) AnalyZZUL:
Initially, eMule AnalyZZUL was some kind of a joke. pesti from eMuleFuture.de asked me if it is possible to add the Client Analyzer to the ZZUL mod. As I never had a look into the ZZUL code before (after all, there was beba which was more than enough to me), I thought, oh, well, let's try so. About half an hour later, AnalyZZUL was born. I actually didn't want it to be a public mod as I still don't know much about how ZZUL actually works (I'm too lazy for that), but someone said, hey, Tux, I know some people who need that... and now I have two mods.
In fact, AnalyZZUL is still more like a side-project to me. With the Analyzer, SUQWT and my unique feature Spread Priority it is "feature-complete", and I don't accept feature requests for it. All I do with it is fixing stuff, improving small things and keeping the code base up-to-date. Unlike beba, AnalyZZUL does not even have tweaked default settings. However, as it doesn't suffer from bloat and is based on zz's unbeatable upload system, it is one of the best releaser mods out there. Of course.
(Which is the only reason why I haven't decided to let it die. Yet.)
The latest released version (3.0) was finished in February 2009. On my hard disk the latest version is 3.1 which will introduce Spread Priority v2. (Take this as hot news. There is no AnalyZZUL beta testing stage. I just don't want that.)
As AnalyZZUL uses WiZaRd's Client Analyzer, a new release could take some more time, see above for a reason why.
7)How did your passion for development of E-mule start and how long have you been practicing this interest?
eMule XTC (a boring C&P project I started with another guy) was based on eMule 0.44d Pawcio. Both of us had no idea what we actually do, so it died a few weeks later. eMule beba was started in May 2005 (eMule 0.46a) and is still alive, so if I'm not completely wrong it is about 4 and a half years old right now.
I decided to start it in order to learn how eMule works and how C++ is structured. It could have died, too, but I am known as an ambitious person... additionally, with v0.2a people started to say, oh, a new, promising mod is in town. You see, the famous VipeR mod was in its last days back then, and beba was quite similar, a smorgasbord of improvements and a lightweight feeling. It feels dazzling to create something that is of any interest for other people. At least while you still have their preferences.
8)Many users complaint about too many fakes and porno films. Do you agree with us that trying to completely embank this problem should be a priority?
What is wrong with pornography?
About fakes: There is no safe way to recognize fakes. It would mean that eMule has to read the file name and to watch the downloaded movie/images/... itself and to decide if it matches. How should it?
eMule has a built-in comments system. Make use of it. Red exclamation marks mostly mean that something is wrong.
You can even check the several file names for a file you currently download.
If you don't make use of these functionalities, it is your fault, not eMule's.
No file is a fake. It just depends on how you name it.
9)Seeing that the pedopornography flooding on internet and various p2p, wouldn’t be advisable to create a function, in eMule, able to point out that kind of files to the competent authorities or to specific websites which collect such signalling like www.stop-it.org? This would be an innovation for eMule and maybe also an example for other p2p to which hark back to.
It is dangerous to report pedopornography. If you report it, the authorities will ask how you know that it is pedopornography. You will have to watch it first anyway.
I also don't know much about childporn as I don't actually have an interest to watch it, but I don't think P2P is the main chain of distribution for its creators. AFAIK, before the material is released via P2P, they first try to make money with it, like selling it on DVD and stuff. P2P is the disposal zone here, so it doesn't make sense to try to remove it from here. Restricting its distribution will not really help the children involved with it, right?
Besides all that, a "report" button had another risk: It would invite anyone to report anything. I strongly doubt that it would improve eMule's reputation if you could report "illegal" stuff from here. The is not enough to balance it. (http://contentdb.emule-project.net Content DB[/url)