BitTorrent Turns 20: The File-Sharing Revolution Revisited
canopic jug writes:
TorrentFreak has a short retrospective on two decades of the bitTorrent protocol, which was first launched July 2nd, 2001. At its peak, about one third of all Internet traffic was BitTorrent. Currently, many GNU/Linux distributions and various data sets (including for games) are distributed officially via BitTorrent due to it being an inexpensive and efficient means of transfer of large volumes of data.
BitTorrent was different though. It clearly set itself apart from competitors by focusing on speed and decentralization. Instead of simply sharing a file with one person at a time, BitTorrent created swarms of sharers, that would see download speeds increase when more people joined.
The decentralization aspect was pretty novel. Most file-sharing tools used a centralized infrastructure accessed through a single piece of software. BitTorrent launched as an open protocol that integrated well with the web. Perhaps too well.
Just a few months after BitTorrent was publicly released, the first torrent sites sprung up. These included Suprnova.org, Donkax.com, Bytemonsoon.com, and Torrentse.cx.
These sites allowed users to upload and share music, photos, software, and even movies. Offering these types of (often pirated) files to a mass audience wasn't an option before, simply because the bandwidth and storage costs were too high.
With BitTorrent, these sites only had to host the small .torrent files, which proved to be a gamechanger.
Aside from the .torrent files, BitTorrent is distributed and decentralized. With the right set up, even that small remnant of centralization can be eliminated. Over the years, SN has had many stories involving the protocol.
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.