Microsoft Wants To Make A Better BitTorrent, Or At Least Some Friends

from the borrowed-ideas dept

Despite the ongoing assault on BitTorrent from both the entertainment industry and government, Microsoft is wading into file-sharing territory with the creation of a BitTorrent alternative. The system, code-named Avalanche, attempts to improve on some of the deficiencies the company sees with current P2P systems. For example, Avalanche will allow files to be reassembled at the receiving end without requiring every bit of the file to be downloaded. At first blush, it sounds like Microsoft is only asking for trouble with the powers that be. However, Microsoft says its new system will prevent unapproved distribution of copyrighted content by sharing only files signed by the content's publisher. Sort of a BitTorrent with DRM, a concept that's been floated at least once or twice before. Even if Microsoft can make it stick this time, you have to wonder who will really benefit by it. People who do obey copyrights don't need a new system to make them do that. People who don't obey copyrights will either find a way to break or circumvent the system, or they'll go back to using and creating other non-DRM technologies. If no one else, at least the entertainment industry will like it.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Pete Austin, 19 Jun 2005 @ 6:48am

    B2B publishers will benefit

    For example businesses want to publish catalogues and manuals for their salespeople and resellers.
    These would be of no interest to your average hacker, but some security is needed to limit industrial espionage.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.