4 ms·

This is totally just my opinion, but the days of the mainstream consumer having a dedicated torrent client installed on their desktop computer (or even as a pho

This is totally just my opinion, but the days of the mainstream consumer having a dedicated torrent client installed on their desktop computer (or even as a phone app) are pretty much over. But as a streaming technology, torrents are still pretty great. And like it or not, being able to run in browsers is a major advantage right now.

3fe9a03ccd14ca5 7y ago
This is true for the streaming use case, where you have a browser open and you want to watch a video. The case the author is going after is downloading a large Debian distro, so in the use-case of large, distributed file distribution there will always be solutions like the author.
- eat_veggies 7y ago
  How many end users actually download linux distributions? I'd argue that most mainstream consumption is: 1. video streaming 2. centralized sources like news websites 3. sharing in group chats End users don't really download large files like Debian outside of gaming and OS updates. To that end, Blizzard Downloader [0] uses BitTorrent, and Windows 10 uses some similar p2p system [1] [0] https://wow.gamepedia.com/Blizzard_Downloader https://wow.gamepedia.com/Blizzard_Downloader [1] https://www.pcworld.com/article/2955491/how-to-stop-windows-10-from-using-your-pcs-bandwidth-to-update-strangers-systems.html https://www.pcworld.com/article/2955491/how-to-stop-windows-...
  - gsich 7y ago
    Not anymore since the Battle.net launcher.
Thaxll 7y ago
Over? With all the new vod services like Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime ect ... It all brings back cable souvenirs, meaning than Torrent is stronger than ever.
- phnofive 7y ago
  Probably not what you meant, but I’d think a licensing and technology arrangement that allowed VoD services to deliver content this way (like Skype when it was good) and use customers as a second line CDN would be awesome.
  - catalogia 7y ago
    If customers would be subsidizing the corporation's bandwidth costs, I hope they'd be getting a good discount over what a centralized distribution service with the same licensed content would cost. Donating bandwidth to a community torrent for the general good is not really the same thing as donating bandwidth to a for-profit corporation. I'm much more inclined to do the former than the later.
    - phnofive 7y ago
      This would ultimately be in the form of not further raising prices, and become a standard thing. Don’t have >15 Mbps up? No problem, extra $3 per month.
  - Moru 7y ago
    Didn't some mmorpgs do this to distribute updates over the client while you were playing?
    - mebo 7y ago
      Back in the 2010s, yes, not anymore though afaik, I assume that CDNs/traffic got cheap enough to not go that far. Microsoft actually introduced P2P update sharing with Windows Update for Windows 10, I think it's enabled by default.
      - noisem4ker 7y ago
        P2P Windows updates make sense where large numbers of machines in the same LAN may be updated at the same time.

3fe9a03ccd14ca5 7y ago

This is true for the streaming use case, where you have a browser open and you want to watch a video. The case the author is going after is downloading a large Debian distro, so in the use-case of large, distributed file distribution there will always be solutions like the author.

eat_veggies 7y ago
How many end users actually download linux distributions? I'd argue that most mainstream consumption is: 1. video streaming 2. centralized sources like news websites 3. sharing in group chats End users don't really download large files like Debian outside of gaming and OS updates. To that end, Blizzard Downloader [0] uses BitTorrent, and Windows 10 uses some similar p2p system [1] [0] https://wow.gamepedia.com/Blizzard_Downloader https://wow.gamepedia.com/Blizzard_Downloader [1] https://www.pcworld.com/article/2955491/how-to-stop-windows-10-from-using-your-pcs-bandwidth-to-update-strangers-systems.html https://www.pcworld.com/article/2955491/how-to-stop-windows-...
- gsich 7y ago
  Not anymore since the Battle.net launcher.

Thaxll 7y ago

Over? With all the new vod services like Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime ect ... It all brings back cable souvenirs, meaning than Torrent is stronger than ever.

phnofive 7y ago
Probably not what you meant, but I’d think a licensing and technology arrangement that allowed VoD services to deliver content this way (like Skype when it was good) and use customers as a second line CDN would be awesome.
- catalogia 7y ago
  If customers would be subsidizing the corporation's bandwidth costs, I hope they'd be getting a good discount over what a centralized distribution service with the same licensed content would cost. Donating bandwidth to a community torrent for the general good is not really the same thing as donating bandwidth to a for-profit corporation. I'm much more inclined to do the former than the later.
  - phnofive 7y ago
    This would ultimately be in the form of not further raising prices, and become a standard thing. Don’t have >15 Mbps up? No problem, extra $3 per month.
- Moru 7y ago
  Didn't some mmorpgs do this to distribute updates over the client while you were playing?
  - mebo 7y ago
    Back in the 2010s, yes, not anymore though afaik, I assume that CDNs/traffic got cheap enough to not go that far. Microsoft actually introduced P2P update sharing with Windows Update for Windows 10, I think it's enabled by default.
    - noisem4ker 7y ago
      P2P Windows updates make sense where large numbers of machines in the same LAN may be updated at the same time.