Critical+Success+Factors

__**Critical Success Factors for Tor:**__

The most important critical success factor for Tor is scalability. Tor has done well with scaling so far, but must continue with this increase in scalability in order to handle thousands of relays and millions of users. Increasing Tors scalability also directly relates to keeping Tor both fast and stable, which are two of their primary goals.([|Tor Project])

Another critical success factor for Tor is usability for users and the software they interact with. If the software is not easy to use for users, it will have trouble reaching that larger audicence that Tor aspires to obtain. Achieving the usability Tor wants to have will require having a very clean GUI, easy configurations, being able to blend with other applications, and automating the difficult and confusing steps inside Tor. These goals for usability are moving in the right direction with work on the Vidalia GUI being developed, but that is only the start and still has a long way to go.([|Tor Project])

Another critical success factor is it also offers anonymity to servers. By using the TOR network, it is possible to host servers in such a way that their network location is unknown. In order to access a hidden service, TOR has to be used by the client. Hidden services are accessed through the TOR‐specific .onion pseudo top‐level domain.(Tor Routing)

A migration to the mobile platform was a big step for TOR to expand its user base. Orbot is an application that allows mobile phone users to instant message(IM), connect to the web, and email without being blocked or monitored by their mobile ISP. Orbot brings the features and functionality of Tor to the Android mobile operating system. (Orbot)

The final critical success factor lies in the hands of the actual users of Tor, and is Tor being used by users as relays and exit nodes. Many users just use their Tor as clients, but the entire network would benefit by having these users configure their Tors to not just be a client, but also configure them as relays and exit nodes. This is a difficult sucess factor to meet as it is completely up the users, but Tor developers have discussed possibly implementing incentives for those who configure their Tors in such a way, which would help incline users to do this.([|Tor Project])