Adeona We Have A Problem - Open Source Theft Recovery Broken

Adeona is an open source project from the University of Washington that utilzies a way of tracking laptops if they are stolen using OpenDHT servers to store data in an unencrypted format. The project was originally a research project that was launched a few months ago, however it has had some serious problems.  The application was very popular as it was free, thousands have downloaded and installed the software thinking that it will protect their systems in the event of theft. There is a problem however, it is not working. Due to issues with the OpenDHT servers the Adeona software is not working at all, no data can be retreived from the servers if a device is stolen.  Don’t get me wrog I love open source, but I think the way the University of Washington promoted this in the early stage was irresponsible. The software was obviously not tested thouroughly and was not designed for a high level of reliability regardless of what their website says.

Their discussion boards are full of complaints, it is important to note that if you installed Adeona expecting it to protect your computer in the case of thef, it is not working and your system is not protected.  Additionally people have had serious problems uninstalling the software, as it is not an easy process. There is no support for the product, nobody to assist with the recovery and no guarantees that the software will work.