A traditional drawback of peer-to-peer networks is that your buddies need to be online at the same time as you if you want to share files or exchange messages with them. This is how chat (instant messaging), for example, works: if your buddies are not online you need to switch to email instead.

Kerika, however, does a neat trick which makes it easy for you to share stuff with others, even when they are not around. Here's how it works:

• Your computer always knows which other Kerika users are online at the same time as you, because every Kerika user automatically checks in at the central rendezvous server at kerika.com. So when you update a project, Kerika automatically figures out who can get their updates right away, and who will have to pick up their updates later, when they next come online.


• If some of your team members are not online right now, your computer will send a copy of the updates to the storage server, where they will sit and wait for your absent buddies to show up and retrieve. This is done automatically, so you don't have to worry about keeping track of who is online and who isn't.


• Each time you start up Kerika, your computer automatically checks in with the storage server to see if you missed anything while you were offline. If any messages are waiting for you, they are automatically delivered to your computer and then they are scrubbed from the storage server.

So, Kerika really does give you the best of both worlds: instant and direct connectivity with buddies you are online, and a server that holds stuff for those who are offline!

Tip: Kerika currently doesn't use any encryption when it sends messages to the storage server. If you want greater privacy, you should set up your very own private storage server.