The original eDonkey2000 application and the protocol family it helped popularise have different histories. The old article used that distinction to explain why later clients could remain important after the original product disappeared.
Servers help participants find each other
An eD2K server keeps discovery information supplied by its clients. It is not the main repository containing all the actual files being shared. Another compatible server may provide a discovery route when one endpoint stops operating.
This is why a server's role should be separated from the role of a peer that has a complete file or some of its parts.
Announcing and locating files
The source described a client introducing itself to a server and announcing information about the files it shares. A search can use that information to help identify other participants offering a requested file.
Once suitable sources are known, the file data is transferred between clients. Different parts can be obtained from different peers, subject to availability and each peer's upload capacity.
Completing a download
The client assembles and checks the received parts. The original account simplified some of this process by attributing too much of the part coordination to the server. The server helps discovery; the clients manage the actual exchange.
A completed file is not automatically safe to execute. Identification and integrity checks are separate from deciding whether the contents are trustworthy.
Influence on later clients
The article associated the growth of eMule, Shareaza and MLDonkey with the earlier eDonkey ecosystem. It described users moving between applications as commercial and technical circumstances changed.
A compatible implementation can preserve access to a protocol without being a release of the original application. Equally, the word P2P does not mean every client uses eD2K: other programs may implement entirely different networks.
Where Kad fits
eMule also provides decentralised Kad discovery. That additional route reduces reliance on central server entries without turning a server.met list into a Kad contact file.
For present-day use, continue with eMule's two networks or the current server and Kad guide.