Joost announced its plans to d "The industry was much different when we set out to deliver professional video online in 2006. Bandwidth was very expensive. Content partners were relatively new to distributing their copyrighted material online. With a proprietary, downloadable software running on a P2P network, we were able to distribute professionally-produced content in an efficient, high-quality and protected manner," Joost said in a statement.

"We learned a lot after we launched this software, and decided to move to an in-browser experience."

In October, Joost launched the www.joost.com website, which let users watch videos in their web browser and also brought a lot of the social features the company had in their software closer to the viewing.

Joost said that by discontinuing support for the client, they were able to ensre that everyone who wanted to use Joost had a common experience.

By focusing on the website, Joost has integrated the Facebook Connect function that allows users to log in and share videos with their Facebook friends. An embeddable player is available that allows users to share videos on their blogs. In addition, joost has improved its electronic programming guide to make it easier for users to find videos, while it also introduced an iPhone application.

Joost also said that it may return to a P2P solution in the future.

"We have a significant amount of intellectual capital built up around P2P technology - but the reality is that most people don't care how their video is delivered to them as long as it's delivered to them reliably. When we find the right application for our P2P technology, we'll reintroduce it as a new service," Joost said.