What is Direct Connect? P2P file sharing explained
Direct Connect (DC) is a peer-to-peer network for sharing files and chatting on hubs that the community runs. If you come from torrents or HTTP downloads, one thing works differently and trips up almost everyone: the hub is not where files live. A hub is a meeting point. You connect, see who is online, chat, and search. When you download, your client talks straight to the other person's client. The hub coordinates, the transfer happens peer to peer.
Direct Connect (DC) is the network. DC++ is its best-known client, one of several that connect to it. People often say "DC++" when they mean the network, but the two are not the same thing.
A bit of history
Direct Connect was built in 1999 by Jon Hess under his company NeoModus. It arrived in the first wave of file sharing, right next to Napster. NeoModus shut down around 2005, but the protocol did not die: the open-source client DC++ (by Jacek Sieka) took over and kept the network running. That setup, people gathering on community hubs around shared interests, is still what DC is about today.
More on Wikipedia and interviews with Jon Hess.
Where to go next
- How the network works explains hubs, downloads, file lists, and hashes.
- The Quick start gets you onto a hub in a few steps.