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Microsoft Wants P2P Avalanche to Crush BitTorrent

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the bet-it-won't-be-open-source dept.

pacopico writes "Microsoft seems to think it can be the better Bittorrent. You know faster and more well-behaved. The Register has a story on the P2P work being done by Microsoft's researchers in the UK. Redmond reckons its "Avalanche" technology will be 20 to 30 percent faster than BitTorrent. It's meant for legal downloads only, of course."

7 of 545 comments (clear)

  1. Microsoft Wants Your First Born by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful
    It's meant for legal downloads only, of course.
    Well BitTorrent is meant for legal downloads too, but that doesn't mean a whole lot.
    Naturally, Microsoft is very keen to stress that this technology should be used for distributing legitimate content. It even put that in italics in the press material.
    Oh, never mind, I didn't realize they put it in ITALICS, that is sure to stop piracy dead in it's tracks.

    Besides BitTorrent might not be the most efficient P2P system any more, but it is one of the most widely used. I guess this is what Microsoft does best, copy other technology, add a little to it, then destroy it.
    1. Re:Microsoft Wants Your First Born by shadowmatter · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Microsoft Research has been working on efficient, decentralized, and fault-tolerant P2P systems since 2001. See the paper about their DHT (Distributed Hash Table) called Pastry, which was co-authored with Rice and is still under active development there. Note that the Kademlia DHT, which followed roughly a year later and is now used in a variety of P2P networks (eMule, the new decentralized BitTorrent network, etc.) employs a variant of Pastry's routing algorithm of longest prefix matching.

      They still have quite a presence if you look through recent NSDI or IPTPS conferences. Note that this paper is for IEEE INFOCOM, which is big.

      - shadowmatter

  2. Can we stop... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...the knee-jerk reactions that this story will elicit? The original post really doesn't do TFA justice.

    This is basically an improvement to the BitTorrent protocol that will overcome scheduling difficulties that really do exist today (I need piece X, but the person who has it is busy uploading piece Y).

    What it is NOT:
    1.) A Microsoft-proprietary application (at least nor yet).
    2.) A production application that only runs on Windows.
    3.) In any way (in theory, at least) tied to DRM'ing anything.
    4.) A way for Microsoft to track your downloading.

    Basically, Microsoft has suggested a way to make BitTorrent-like downloads better. Microsoft! Making P2P downloads of large files easier! Really!

    This isn't MS search trying to overtake google, or some such. MS isn't trying to own the P2P market (at least not yet). They're suggesting improvements, and if you read TFA, the improvements make sense.

    This is a Good Thing. Yeah, I'm suprised it came from M$ too.

  3. I want Windows by robertjw · · Score: 5, Funny

    Plus, how cool is it going to be to download Windows Server 2006 (or whatever it is) off a P2P network they created.

    --
    Find coupons in Greeley
  4. Why.teh. Fuck?!!!! by Thud457 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Would I want to use the bandwith I paid for so other Windoze lusers can leech off the copy of Longhorn Service Pack 3 that I downloaded? Microsoft wants me to take part in some damn hippy-dippy bandwith commune? While they're world renowned for not playing nice with others?!!! Get the fuck out!!!! You can't have it both ways Microsoft!!!!

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

    1. Re:Why.teh. Fuck?!!!! by empaler · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think you misread this part:

      While they're (Microsoft) world renowned for not playing nice with others?!!! Get the fuck out!!!! You can't have it both ways Microsoft!!!!

      He meant that since MS are egomaniac bastards who do not share, they should not expect anyone else to behave differently. (Thud457, correct me if I misinterpreted, and if so, I apologize for putting words into your mouth)

  5. Re:Linux distros by mbbac · · Score: 5, Funny

    You trolls really get under my skin. You know this is Microsoft we're talking about, yet you still deliberately misinform people about obvious facts.

    Microsoft Avalanche will use a file name like debian_iso.ava.

    --

    mbbac