Re: BitTorrent

[mike808@users.sourceforge.net]

Robert Citek wrote ..
> Yes, BT is an avenue.  But not merely an avenue.  It is a fundamentally
> different way of distributing bits.  If nothing else, BT differs from 
> ftp and http in that BT spreads out the distribution workload among the
> clients.

BT is fundamentally no different than any of the P2P networks, 
but without the "network" part. Each tracker is an isolated P2P 'swarm'
in and of itself.

> Agreed.  BT + broadband makes getting the software easier.  Not  
> everyone can host an ftp or http server.  But, every Joe or Jane can  
> participate in BT.

As has every Joe or Jane participating in Kazaa and Gnutella and bearshare and ... before BT.
This is the same old P2P sharing technology. Albeit with one of the best
swarming and scaling algorithms around. But the whole thing centers around the
tracker. There are other P2P technologies around. BT just has a lot of buzz right now is all.
It probably won't be the silver bullet.

There's other stuff in the same space -- distributed filesystems with attributes like
anonymity, encryption, merit-based transfer rules, and high-availability/redundancy

> It's a bummer they don't include a BT client, even though TheOpenCd  
> itself is available via BT:

Probably because the coolest BT client around is Azureus (http://azureus.sourceforge.net/)
and it's Java-based. And Java isn't FLOSS, although it is freeware, it isn't
freedomware.

And frankly, Bram's clients user interfaces leave a lot to be desired.

Mike/

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