Dvorak Sees MS Conspiracy Against BitTorrent 373
kilgortrout writes "Dvorak has an interesting editorial up, where he links the recent stories of alleged 'security problems' and 'spyware problems' bittorent has been having with the recent MS announcement of research into a file sharing app called 'Avalanche'. concluding it's all part of an orchestrated MS disinformation campaign against BitTorrent." From the article: "The problem is that no big company controls it, and Microsoft, asleep at the wheel, let it slip too long to do much about it. So now I suspect Microsoft is playing dirty to discredit the thing. There is no other explanation for the recent series of coincidental stories and events." Especially interesting in light of Bram Cohen's take on the situation.
Re:Legal use for torrent? (Score:3, Informative)
Spread of trade-friendly music.
Re:Legal use for torrent? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Legal use for torrent? (Score:3, Informative)
Lots of other stuff is and can be distributed through Bittorrent.
Re:Legal use for torrent? (Score:5, Informative)
You're posting on it.
Seriously, how many times have you seen a post on
BitTorrent IS the dominant protocol on the Net (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.cachelogic.com/research/slide3.php [cachelogic.com]
or ask anyone who works at an ISP. HTTP barely counts compared to BitTorrent and the other P2P file network protocols.
Steven
Re:Legal use for torrent? (Score:5, Informative)
Obviously, someone wasn't paying attention. [slashdot.org]
And FWIW, over the past few days I've downloaded Linux From Scratch CD and Book, Knoppix lastest, and OpenSolaris code over BitTorrent. Xandros also provides a free version of their distro only over bittorrent, and many game demos come over bittorrent. It's gotten to the point where I get pretty upset if I *can't* get a large file over BT. (Others may remember me bitching about not being able to download Solaris 10 over BT. I still can't, but at least I can get the source and OpenSolaris derivitives.)
Protocols (Score:3, Informative)
I'm sorry, but this guy doesn't know what he's talking about - you can't make a meaningful statement comparing the usage of the BT protocol to the 'TCP/IP protocol'. If he's going to make such statements, at least he should compare it to something relevant, like HTTP or FTP.
Re:Microsoft can MAKE Avalanch happen (Score:5, Informative)
The process would be to automatically replace all links to files which are larger than say 256K with a Torrent-ish link. This could be done on pagebuild as it the file is served up.
You would want to build the Torrent capabilities into the browser as well, so then you would goto Firefox and build them in there as well.
Here's the Apache half of it: mod-torrent [sourceforge.net]
Re:obvious? (Score:3, Informative)
Oh, wait. He did [pcmag.com]. But a bit of refreshment shouldn't be bad
It killed a company I worked for. (Score:5, Informative)
This *is* kind of a big deal (Score:5, Informative)
Why would MS be interested in BitTorrent?
Because they are pretty good at seeing where the market is going.
BitTorrent is *not* a niche protocol. BitTorrent is the *dominant* form of net-traffic.
http://www.cachelogic.com/research/slide3.php [cachelogic.com]
Ask anyone who works at a major ISP.
BitTorrent is currently the *dominant* protocol on the net, in terms of bits transfered. Yes, bigger than HTTP, FTP, all the normal protocols, and all the other P2P protocols.
In addition to *ALL THAT TRAFFIC*, BitTorrent is starting to see siginifcant corporate legitimacy. Blizzard uses BitTorrent in a customized downloader to distribute patches.
Valve uses a BitTorrent-like (read, licensed from Bram Cohen (infact developed by him, http://www.ferrago.com/story/2963 [ferrago.com]) protocol for distributing their software.
One can imagine that the legitimate electronic channels of distribution in the future will uses BitTorrent or BitTorrent-like schemes. The cost savings on bandwidth alone will set companies that use it apart from the competition.
And right now, MS has no technology that comes close. This is from a company that once dreamed of making MSN synonmous with 'The Net'.
More likely than not, MS currently sees BitTorrent as a massive threat to their having a position in the content distribution networks of tomorrow. Why use a Microsoft solution if you can either write your own in-house OSS solution, or hire another company with a pre-developed, pre-test solution (steam), that crushes the MS solution in bandwidth efficiency.
In the realm of content distribution (which is a big, big place, and a place where 'visionaries' see a lot of growth (perhaps real, perhaps imaginary), BitTorrent is the 'big fish'. And Bram Cohen occupies a similar spot to Linus Torvald's position in the 'Linux World'.
Re:Microsoft can MAKE Avalanch happen (Score:2, Informative)
It's none of those things (Score:5, Informative)
http://research.microsoft.com/~pablo/avalanche.ht
See the "research."? See the ~pablo? This is one of MSR's researchers publishing a piece of academic research. Of course, it's not a product, because it's not intended to be. Researchers often will build a prototype, but don't have the time or the inclination to produce production-quality code. Do you think Microsoft would be openly publishing the design details if it were intended to be a product?
There is no FUD and no vaporware and no conspiracy. This whole storm in a teacup over Avalanche is probably a good example of why publishing research papers openly on the web for other people (i.e. people who don't understand research) to see can be a bad idea.
Re:I agree (Score:1, Informative)
Re: Sheer Brilliance (Score:2, Informative)
Re:I agree (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Legal use for torrent? (Score:4, Informative)
Suppose you want to download Ubuntu linux [ubuntu.com] and try installing it. It's rapidly becoming one of the most popular linux distributions, and you want to see what it's all about.
So, you visit that page. Hmm... you can download the single CD installer OR a single live CS. They also have a single DVD installer, which functions as both, and also includes all the packages which aren't on either CD.
How do you download that DVD image? Bittorrent. Don't just take my word for it. Go ahead, click on that link and see for yourself. Bittorrent is the ONLY way to obtain the larger DVD version.
Personally, I've resisted trying out bitottent until now. But a friend of mine, who's going back to school (and only has dialup), is taking a linux class and wants to try out some of the major distros. The DVD is looking like a much better option than the single CD, where he'll have to apt-get stuff using very slow dialup (and they live in a rural area with low quality lines, so disconnections are common).
So there you have it. Not only a bonafide legal use of bittorrent, but bittorrent is the ONLY WAY to obtain that DVD image for my friend.