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I always have wondered why peer-to-peer wasn’t the obvious solution to hug of death. More visitors? More servers! But I get that there are extreme technical hu

I always have wondered why peer-to-peer wasn’t the obvious solution to hug of death. More visitors? More servers! But I get that there are extreme technical hurdles here. Iirc Spotify started off with that and abandoned it. If so, the challenges have so far outweighed the benefits. But it fits my sense of what the web should/could be. Asymmetric connections (slow upload) and hostile ISP TOS really cemented the server/client distinction ... but I live imagining that a different way is possible. Congrats on getting Beaker to a real place.

netzone 6y ago
I was under the assumption that Spotify stopped doing that because P2P was getting blocked by networks? Maybe I'm wrong.
- tcoff91 6y ago
  I believe it was due to patents that spotify stopped P2P streaming.
  - Blahah 6y ago
    yup https://techcrunch.com/2012/08/15/spotify-gets-hit-with-a-patent-suit-from-nonend-a-dutch-peer-to-peer-ip-holder/?guccounter=1 https://techcrunch.com/2012/08/15/spotify-gets-hit-with-a-pa...
tcoff91 6y ago
A lot of P2P things are encumbered by patent trolls.
- Acrobatic_Road 6y ago
  such as?
  - Blahah 6y ago
    https://techcrunch.com/2012/08/15/spotify-gets-hit-with-a-patent-suit-from-nonend-a-dutch-peer-to-peer-ip-holder/?guccounter=1 https://techcrunch.com/2012/08/15/spotify-gets-hit-with-a-pa...
ev1 6y ago
Another huge hurdle is paid bandwidth quotas. The majority of the web is mobile now, apparently.* * https://www.broadbandsearch.net/blog/mobile-desktop-internet-usage-statistics https://www.broadbandsearch.net/blog/mobile-desktop-internet... * https://gs.statcounter.com/platform-market-share/desktop-mobile-tablet https://gs.statcounter.com/platform-market-share/desktop-mob... * https://www.perficient.com/insights/research-hub/mobile-vs-desktop-usage-study https://www.perficient.com/insights/research-hub/mobile-vs-d...
UShouldBWorking 6y ago
You are right and we are getting there! Corporate interests are the reason progress is slow. It's hard to profit off peer to peer. We now have peer to peer file storage, social media and most importantly, cash! All these things threaten the state so they will never have big backers.

netzone 6y ago

I was under the assumption that Spotify stopped doing that because P2P was getting blocked by networks? Maybe I'm wrong.

tcoff91 6y ago
I believe it was due to patents that spotify stopped P2P streaming.
- Blahah 6y ago
  yup https://techcrunch.com/2012/08/15/spotify-gets-hit-with-a-patent-suit-from-nonend-a-dutch-peer-to-peer-ip-holder/?guccounter=1 https://techcrunch.com/2012/08/15/spotify-gets-hit-with-a-pa...

tcoff91 6y ago

A lot of P2P things are encumbered by patent trolls.

Acrobatic_Road 6y ago
such as?
- Blahah 6y ago
  https://techcrunch.com/2012/08/15/spotify-gets-hit-with-a-patent-suit-from-nonend-a-dutch-peer-to-peer-ip-holder/?guccounter=1 https://techcrunch.com/2012/08/15/spotify-gets-hit-with-a-pa...

ev1 6y ago

Another huge hurdle is paid bandwidth quotas. The majority of the web is mobile now, apparently.* * https://www.broadbandsearch.net/blog/mobile-desktop-internet-usage-statistics https://www.broadbandsearch.net/blog/mobile-desktop-internet... * https://gs.statcounter.com/platform-market-share/desktop-mobile-tablet https://gs.statcounter.com/platform-market-share/desktop-mob... * https://www.perficient.com/insights/research-hub/mobile-vs-desktop-usage-study https://www.perficient.com/insights/research-hub/mobile-vs-d...

UShouldBWorking 6y ago

You are right and we are getting there! Corporate interests are the reason progress is slow. It's hard to profit off peer to peer. We now have peer to peer file storage, social media and most importantly, cash! All these things threaten the state so they will never have big backers.