WinMX is a freeware peer-to-peer file sharing program authored by Frontcode Technologies that runs on Microsoft Windows operating systems, created in 2001. According to one study, it was the number one source for online music in 2005 with an estimated 2.1 million users. Frontcode itself abandoned development of WinMX in September 2005, but a community of developers brought the service back online within a few days by releasing patches or new host files. In North America, WinMX has since been eclipsed by other networks such as Gnutella and BitTorrent, but it remains one of the most popular p2p clients in Japan with over 3 million estimated users as of 2006.
