RSSBitTorrent Buys uTorrent Application
By Nate Mook | Published December 7, 2006, 4:38 PM
BitTorrent, the company behind the file sharing protocol of the same name, has used some of the $25 million it recently received from investors to purchase the popular uTorrent application. uTorrent is one of the top BitTorrent download programs for Windows.
Although BitTorrent has long offered its own application for the protocol, others such as Azureus and uTorrent have been the primary innovators in the space, building up large user communities in the process. uTorrent will ostensibly be merged with the official BitTorrent client.
Ludvig "Ludde" Strigeus, author of uTorrent, wrote in a forum post Thursday that not much should change for the uTorrent community.
"The intention is to maintain the website as it is, and keep the forums and community active," he said. "Moving forward behind the scenes, we will continue to develop µTorrent and will be using the codebase in other applications, especially ones where a fast, lightweight implementation is more suitable, such as embedded systems on TVs, cell phones, and other non-PC platforms."
Reaction to the news on the uTorrent forum was decidedly mixed. Some users congratulated Strigeus for reaping the rewards of his hard work, while other questions the intentions of BitTorrent, a company that has recently turned to the movie studios in order to build a legitimate business around a technology that has largely been used for piracy.
"The day there's a single byte of DRM software in my uTorrent client, I'm gone. I don't trust BitTorrent Inc since they made a deal with the movie industry, which values its profit margins more than its customers," wrote a user by the name of Ikonoclasm. "uTorrent just went from being hands down the best client available to a murky grey zone as its fate is determined by people who are paid by an industry convinced that the technology is solely used for illegal purposes."
"How will Ludde be able to ensure that the client code is as optimized as it would have been had he done it himself?" another user asked. "That was the reason Ludde has always been the sole developer, so this move comes as a surprise. I think we'd all like a little more elaboration on the future of uTorrent development."
A FAQ posted about the acquisition states that Strigeus will become a technical consultant to BitTorrent, and that uTorrent and its Web site will continue to exist - at least for the time being. "Although uTorrent is lightweight, it is missing the patented innovations BitTorrent has made at the protocol level. It is also lacking an implementation for Mac and Linux. We will improve uTorrent in these arenas," the FAQ reads.
Terms of the deal between uTorrent and BitTorrent were not disclosed.
Someone previously recommended this program, i am too, it is ligt weight like uTorrent, easy to use too i've been using it today and like it a lot...
http://www.binarynotions.com/halite.php
Score: 0
|There will "always" be a battle. There HAS to be this balance of money making to file sharing for P2P[quality piracy] to function. If the p2p free for all system gets ahead we find a drop in content to acquire, after all, someone made "that album" because he needed to make a living. Or "that movie" was created for the boxoffice returns. Software developers dont work for leechers, neither do musicians or directors. But as long as the head nobs get profits we can be sure our artists and developers get paid inturn giving us something to put on the torrent system in the first place.
For now utorrent 1.6.1 is absolutely perfect!
Score: 0
|why is it always about money? isn't there any idealism left in people? the bittorrent client sucks and those people who created it will eventually destroy utorrent. and you can't use the old version forever. the developer gets the money and we have to deal with the consequences. greaaat
Score: 0
|"why is it always about money? isn't there any idealism left in people?"
You do realize the idealists were motivated by money, right?
Score: 0
|people, what the fuss? even if this software will be degraded there are plenty of choice not to mention the current version will keep working.
i actually feel good about the fact the the guy got 25 mil out of these fat investors.
Score: 0
|I doubt he got more than $250K...
Score: 0
|Isnt that a common component of the entertainment industry though...?
"If you can't beat 'em, buy 'em"
Score: 0
|But the Utorrent dude didn't have to sell out. He could have said no.
Score: 0
|He should get pay for his hard work. You don't have to agree with him, but he has a family to feed, and have things he want to do other than doing you and me a free service.
Score: 0
|Let's hope they know what a nice app it is and let the developer continue unhindered.
Score: 0
|That's a common component of any industry.
Score: 0
|"The intention is to maintain the website as it is, and keep the forums and community active"
keep the forums and community active !!!
well, reading the forum it seems at least 50% of user will leave, and many more if the program gets 'messed up'
the community has grown up around a good and trusted application
in the future will it be good, and can it be trusted?
Only time will tell
Score: 0
|What about Python? I always liked the original BitTorrent was written in Python, sort of lone fighter in C/++ world.
I use Opera for my torrents anyway...
Score: 0
|Who gives a sh*t? A new protocol must be born anyway sooner or later, totally incompatible with bittorrent, but much better. How better? Well, simply by being incorporated into the next version of Windows of course, or part of any other insanely popular software, such as Flash Player or Adobe Reader or AIM or NOD32 or even some future YouTube player or Google bar or Firefox... So while you're viewing a big document you become an uploader of that content (you can opt-out). Or while you're getting that MS/NOD32 update you become an uploader of same. Digital signatures ensure no tampering can be done, of course.
Keep in mind YouTube (Google) currently gets an astronomical monthly bill for bandwidth usage and the video quality STILL BLOWS (grainy smudgy sh*t). You wanna see the vid in HD quality? No probbie, just share some upstream, sweetboy. (Not right now..even in a few hours/days - "we'll keep track"). And Firefox could use this protocol to precache deep links on sites you visit. Maybe incorporated into RSS so anything RSSed is also precached with no cost to the web host.
I also envision this to be used in small trusted groups (say family members and friends) for purposes of mutual free hosting and encrypted backup. Basically everyone hosts everyone else's pics and help them keep a backup of their critical data. The more of YOUR data I push out for you (upstream), the more I expect you to push out for me (my public data = pics/songs). Works good on common-interest files for that group of course. This will happen as the trend today (even for "regular users") is to leave your PC turned on extended periods of time. If the protocol is engineered intelligently with QoS to NEVER disturb your work, it's gonna be a smash hit.
Enough dreaming for now.
Score: 0
|I agree - too true. Nostradamus lives.
Score: 0
|I guess I'll just stop updating uTorrent.
It got enough functions I need for now.
Score: 0
|In Windoze, I normally use Burst! for my torrenting needs. I've tried uTorrent and I like it quite a bit. And, being mainly a Linux user, I would like to see a Linux port of uTorrent. But, I'm going to have to agree with Ikonoclasm in the article, the instant there's one shred of DRM software in uTorrent, even if you can "turn it off," I'll drop it faster than you can blink.
Score: 0
|Crap. I may have to go back to Bit Spirit. I really, really like Utorrent 1.6. Maybe they won't go and break anything and I can keep using it?
Score: 0
|It will go the way of napster......
Bummer but, there will be others.
Someone will make a "uTorrent Alternative"
Just stick with the current version for as long as it works.
Score: 0
|Azureus has always been pretty much equivalent with utorrent, except that utorrent is lighter....
As such, I have been a very loyal utorrent user.
The moment that I finish typing this post, I am going to download the newest Azureus and never look back.
Score: 0
|Azureus' Java bloat is why I never stuck with it, I'll go back to bit tornado before I go to Azureus.
Score: 0
|Agreed, Azureus never really gelled with me for that reason. Java isn't particularly stable either.
Score: 0
|i ve been using Bit comet for more then a year now running 24/7 on dedicated machine. stopped upgrading at .63 i think (about 8 month or so)
however it seem that bitcomet is not very popular. am i missing something? are those alternatives so good?
Score: 0
|You have a machine dedicated to bit torrent? :O
Score: 0
|I no longer use Azureus because I haven't got the time to keep up with the torrent scene anymore. But dl Java 1.6 and give Azureus a go. I'm told Java 1.6 is a lot more whizzo than 1.5 - apparently.
Score: 0
|Note to self: do not update uTorrent client.
Score: 0
|"uTorrent is one of the top BitTorrent download programs for Windows"
*WAS* one of the top BitTorrent download programs for Windows.
But guess what guys? NO PROBLEM AT ALL. 1) I don't have a problem using my current version (pre-industry annihilation) indefinitely because it works great, less filling. 2) What these sell-out scum don't realize is that they can't possibly win this war. Another "hero" will come out with yet ANOTHER free-of-crap lightweight torrent application that EVERYONE will flock to and download without fear once again.
Then in a few months, they'll crush that too, and the cycle will continue until David eventually wins against Goliath. And oh what a delightful and pleasureful sight it will be to see when Goliath is gurgling on it's own blood before dying a in such a way that would horrify even the most desensitized videogame/horror-movie watcher. :)
Score: 0
|uTorrent is a great program, hey! lets ****. it up.
On the bright side at least AOL didn't get their greedy cursed hands on it.
Score: 0
|Bah.. too bad. I hate bittorrent.. now utorrent will go down..
Score: 0
|Bad news for µTorrent fans... =S
Score: 0
|this is horrible news for utorrent users. especially given the deals that Bram Cohen has made with the MPAA recently. i'll be switching back to BitComet.
Score: 0
|I agree - don't mess with µTorrent. Who gives a f- about BitTorrent patented innovations? I will bail once I need to 'install' the software.
Score: 0
|I'd like to file a suit for emotional distress please!
Score: 0
|Bram, thank you for the protocol, but I will call a spade a spade - the original client is gay. I do hope you will not f..k µTorrent up. Do I demand too much?
Score: 0
|You don't demand anything.
Any number of developers could replicate any of the torrent clients with a little time.
Torrents are on public nets, so it's not like what you had before is going away.
Azereus is open source, fork it to your liking.
Score: 0
|It wants to have sex with you?
Score: 0
|> Azereus is open source, fork it to your liking.
Oh please, that would be like forking a fat chick for free.
Score: 0
|one that falls over often.....
Score: 0
|Be careful - I knew someone who rolled over a fat chick and he was still on her.
Score: 0
|This shouldn't really be a problem. Even if there were to install DRM crap, you can always stop your client from updating.
For anyone who wants to play safe, copy the installation of your current version, or grab a fresh copy off their site.
As long as you stay with 1.6 you'll be fine. The application already rules, so updates are unnecessary anyway.
Score: 0
|Ouch. RIP µTorrent. It's sad to see you go.
So the only question remains, what's the alternative?
The only popular client with the same features and good reputation is Azureus, but being a java client - as has been pointed out - it's eaten all the pies, and with v3 on the way, it appears to have had a pie-truck delivery. Don't get me wrong, the java is great in that it makes it OS-independent, but I for one can't deal with anything that runs on that slow crap when I'm not in the office.
Sooo.... I'm left with two choices. Number one was to check out the BT support on Shareaza - which I already use for rare and small downloads. It's better than it was. But that's because it used to turn the quite dainty Shareaza into a lumbering CPU-hog every time you had a torrent downloading. They seem to have fixed that. But in testing it with the Open Office distro against other clients, for some reason it sometimes refuses to get up to full speed. Reason? Unknown. still looking at this.
Next stop: looking for another tiny BT client to replace µTorrent. So far I've only found one suitable client that will run on Windows (there seem to be a lot for Linux of course!): Halite
http://www.binarynotions.com/halite.php
It's still underdeveloped compared to what i'm coming from, but it has good potential and - unlike µTorrent - is open source.
So I'll carry on looking, but this has got the nod for now.
Score: 0
|