5 ms·

torrents are a reasonable solution for sharing those kind of programs.

by throwawayaway 12y ago

JoshTriplett 12y ago
Not really; nothing guarantees that someone keeps seeding them forever.
- thisjepisje 12y ago
  "Reasonable", not "absolutely infallible".
  - vacri 12y ago
    Unseeded torrents are pretty common, especially for less popular items.
    - slang800 12y ago
      In my experience, unseeded torrents are less common than Rapidshare links that have been removed by their user or taken down after being reported. However, I've never gathered statistics on it, so this is purely anecdotal.
- jsprogrammer 12y ago
  Nothing guarantees that anything keeps serving files forever. BT at least distributes responsibility and allows anyone to easily keep the files hosted.
  - ratsmack 12y ago
    I've often wondered if Freenet, or a similar encrypted network file system would be a viable solution. This, of course, requires a significant number of computers to contribute full time.
    - jsprogrammer 12y ago
      What's wrong with BT? It can operate encrypted and has the DHT to address/discover content.
    - wmf 12y ago
      AFAIK Freenet is basically a cache with no incentive system, so content will expire. There are some cryptocurrency-oriented storage projects but they all seem to be in way over their heads.
      - lmm 12y ago
        I think the fundamental economics for a cryptocurrency approach don't lean towards preserving obscure things that don't interest many people. Storage cost is always going to be proportional to the amount of data being stored, but income is always going to be proportional to the number of people who want the data.
      - pgeorgi 12y ago
        In Freenet content will expire unless it's accessed regularly. If you want to make sure your files are around, just poll them every other week (which may or may not be already supported by the software), which is a simple "proof of work" scheme: As long as you care, the files are reasonably safe to be around. When you (and everyone else) stops caring, they'll slowly disappear in favour of more popular stuff.
- rakoo 12y ago
  I'd expect a team like xda-developers to run a seed of their content; it's the best way to make sure it is still available.
  - chii 12y ago
    the point is that a service like rapidshare doesn't cost the user any money (and instead, get ads). Running a torrent server is expensive, and require dedicated hardware too. You can't really seed from the webhost after all.
    - pgeorgi 12y ago
      You can seed from regular webhosts - as long as it's a regular http query to a regular http server, not some temporary http query hidden behind several layers of interstitial ads for the premium account.
    - rakoo 12y ago
      The user can use seedboxes, they're far from being as difficult to use as dedicated hardware. They sometimes have some free tier that I expect would be more than enough for a team like xda-developers (think 5GB). It's true that they wouldn't be able to earn money through this, though.

torrents are a reasonable solution for sharing those kind of programs.

JoshTriplett 12y ago

Not really; nothing guarantees that someone keeps seeding them forever.

thisjepisje 12y ago
"Reasonable", not "absolutely infallible".
- vacri 12y ago
  Unseeded torrents are pretty common, especially for less popular items.
  - slang800 12y ago
    In my experience, unseeded torrents are less common than Rapidshare links that have been removed by their user or taken down after being reported. However, I've never gathered statistics on it, so this is purely anecdotal.
jsprogrammer 12y ago
Nothing guarantees that anything keeps serving files forever. BT at least distributes responsibility and allows anyone to easily keep the files hosted.
- ratsmack 12y ago
  I've often wondered if Freenet, or a similar encrypted network file system would be a viable solution. This, of course, requires a significant number of computers to contribute full time.
  - jsprogrammer 12y ago
    What's wrong with BT? It can operate encrypted and has the DHT to address/discover content.
  - wmf 12y ago
    AFAIK Freenet is basically a cache with no incentive system, so content will expire. There are some cryptocurrency-oriented storage projects but they all seem to be in way over their heads.
    - lmm 12y ago
      I think the fundamental economics for a cryptocurrency approach don't lean towards preserving obscure things that don't interest many people. Storage cost is always going to be proportional to the amount of data being stored, but income is always going to be proportional to the number of people who want the data.
    - pgeorgi 12y ago
      In Freenet content will expire unless it's accessed regularly. If you want to make sure your files are around, just poll them every other week (which may or may not be already supported by the software), which is a simple "proof of work" scheme: As long as you care, the files are reasonably safe to be around. When you (and everyone else) stops caring, they'll slowly disappear in favour of more popular stuff.
rakoo 12y ago
I'd expect a team like xda-developers to run a seed of their content; it's the best way to make sure it is still available.
- chii 12y ago
  the point is that a service like rapidshare doesn't cost the user any money (and instead, get ads). Running a torrent server is expensive, and require dedicated hardware too. You can't really seed from the webhost after all.
  - pgeorgi 12y ago
    You can seed from regular webhosts - as long as it's a regular http query to a regular http server, not some temporary http query hidden behind several layers of interstitial ads for the premium account.
  - rakoo 12y ago
    The user can use seedboxes, they're far from being as difficult to use as dedicated hardware. They sometimes have some free tier that I expect would be more than enough for a team like xda-developers (think 5GB). It's true that they wouldn't be able to earn money through this, though.