Kazaa was brainchild of 3 humble Estonians

Associated Press

TALLINN, Estonia — Colleagues raised eyebrows when Swedish software developer Niklas Zenn-strom cast about for help writing the Kazaa file-sharing software, and chose three unheralded youths from little-known Estonia.

And jaws dropped when the program that Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu and Jaan Tallinn wrote from their spartan two-room office quickly became the leading software download on the Internet; CNET's Download.com distributes about 14 million copies a month.

Zennstrom knew what he wanted Kazaa to do when he hired the shy, twentysomething Estonians, who favor faded jeans and T-shirts. He wanted to let any two computers trade files seamlessly, without going through a central server. He just didn't know how to do it.

"It was the Estonians — the three of them, not a full research department — who came up with the programming code," Zennstrom said. "That was the key."

The 36-year-old lanky Swede said the software, pounded out in four months and first posted online in late 2001, worked almost glitch-free from the start. It set usage records within the year.

"It was amazing. They are very skilled," Zennstrom said during a business trip to this former Soviet republic, a 45-minute flight from Stockholm.

That the breakthrough — which led to litigation and accusations of thievery from the music industry — occurred in this ex-communist state of just 1.4 million people was no fluke, Zennstrom said.

This Baltic state known more for pulp and paper exports has leap-frogged older technologies with investment help from nearby Finland — the home of Nokia Corp.