Wednesday, April 27, 2005

BitTorrent is easy mirroring.

Here's what I really like about BitTorrent: it's easy mirroring. I can help make available things that I think should be available. For instance, I got the torrent of Free Culture, and I have Azureus still uploading it to whoever is interested. I've sent out the equivalent of over 50 copies. BitTorrent is perfect for this kind of work.
  • I can donate exactly the bandwidth I want.
  • I can start and stop when I want.
  • The tracker adapts seamlessly. Downloaders don't notice.
  • The more people do this, the easier it is for everyone.
  • It works best for things that are popular and/or large, the very things that old style mirroring don't work as well for.
I mirror Debian CDs this way, and KNOPPIX and anything else that just makes me want to contribute.

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