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>Most companies block torrents. Most companies also block random software like PortableApps.com.

by fredsted 13y ago

JohnTHaller 13y ago
You'd be surprised how very few do. We keep things clean, well-behaved, and virus-free for a reason.
- fredsted 13y ago
  I know you do - I use your apps. But I think writing off torrents because companies filter them isn't a reason to do so. As long as they can download random executables and run them, they'll be able to download torrents, either via .torrent files, magnet links, via a proxy or whatever method they figure out.
  - JohnTHaller 13y ago
    Torrents themselves are blocked by most corporate firewalls (and many university ones). Adding torrent abilities to the PortableApps.com Platform, even if we custom wrote it to work with our app store, would encourage places to block our whole platform. Like it or not, even with all the legitimate uses torrent has, to many people it's about stolen software, stolen music, stolen movies, and porn.
    - fredsted 13y ago
      >Adding torrent abilities to the PortableApps.com Platform, even if we custom wrote it to work with our app store, would encourage places to block our whole platform. >Like it or not, even with all the legitimate uses torrent has, to many people it's about stolen software, stolen music, stolen movies, and porn. I think that's a little far-fetched, nearly all open source projects utilize torrents for distribution with noone blocking them. Torrents are just the default way of providing high-speed software mirrors these days.
      - JohnTHaller 13y ago
        Lots of open source projects make torrents of their files available for download from their website. That's a different animal from building a torrent client into your app. The PortableApps.com Platform is how lots of our users get their apps now, right from the app store or via the automatic app updater, and that all takes place via HTTP. In order to properly use torrents, we'd need to build a client right into the app store so users can use it but still one-click update/install their apps. But, having a torrent client built into the platform would encourage companies to block the platform itself. And, it would leave our users unable to update their apps inside organizations that block torrenting at the network level.
webreac 13y ago
My company (in fact client company) is using bluecoat filter. This is insane crap that block randomly many sites. Hopefully, the company does not block ssh. Bluecoat filter is so much annoying that I have installed a proxy on my home computer. When a site is blocked, I have to fully close Chrome, to launch ssh with a tunnel (two clicks) and to relaunch Chrome using this proxy (one click). I wonder when companies will understand that excessive or bad filtering have opposite consequences. PortableApps.com is awesome (notably xampp). Congrats

>Most companies block torrents. Most companies also block random software like PortableApps.com.

JohnTHaller 13y ago

You'd be surprised how very few do. We keep things clean, well-behaved, and virus-free for a reason.

fredsted 13y ago
I know you do - I use your apps. But I think writing off torrents because companies filter them isn't a reason to do so. As long as they can download random executables and run them, they'll be able to download torrents, either via .torrent files, magnet links, via a proxy or whatever method they figure out.
- JohnTHaller 13y ago
  Torrents themselves are blocked by most corporate firewalls (and many university ones). Adding torrent abilities to the PortableApps.com Platform, even if we custom wrote it to work with our app store, would encourage places to block our whole platform. Like it or not, even with all the legitimate uses torrent has, to many people it's about stolen software, stolen music, stolen movies, and porn.
  - fredsted 13y ago
    >Adding torrent abilities to the PortableApps.com Platform, even if we custom wrote it to work with our app store, would encourage places to block our whole platform. >Like it or not, even with all the legitimate uses torrent has, to many people it's about stolen software, stolen music, stolen movies, and porn. I think that's a little far-fetched, nearly all open source projects utilize torrents for distribution with noone blocking them. Torrents are just the default way of providing high-speed software mirrors these days.
    - JohnTHaller 13y ago
      Lots of open source projects make torrents of their files available for download from their website. That's a different animal from building a torrent client into your app. The PortableApps.com Platform is how lots of our users get their apps now, right from the app store or via the automatic app updater, and that all takes place via HTTP. In order to properly use torrents, we'd need to build a client right into the app store so users can use it but still one-click update/install their apps. But, having a torrent client built into the platform would encourage companies to block the platform itself. And, it would leave our users unable to update their apps inside organizations that block torrenting at the network level.

webreac 13y ago

My company (in fact client company) is using bluecoat filter. This is insane crap that block randomly many sites. Hopefully, the company does not block ssh. Bluecoat filter is so much annoying that I have installed a proxy on my home computer. When a site is blocked, I have to fully close Chrome, to launch ssh with a tunnel (two clicks) and to relaunch Chrome using this proxy (one click). I wonder when companies will understand that excessive or bad filtering have opposite consequences. PortableApps.com is awesome (notably xampp). Congrats