http://www.redherring.com/Article...
http://research.microsoft.com/~pablo/avalanche.htm

In a strange twist, researchers at software giant Microsoft have ideas about how to improve BitTorrent’s peer-to-peer file-sharing technology, even though BitTorrent is often used for sharing copyrighted music, movies, and TV shows without the copyright holder’s permission.

Microsoft's proposed content distribution scheme, known as Avalanche, enhances BitTorrent's file-swarming technique of grabbing bits of files from scattered servers and then piecing them together by using a technique called "network coding."

Crazy Microsoft, Discuss...

Microsoft isn't really in the content business so why would microsoft care if the technology can be used for "sharing copyright music, movies, and TV shows without the copyright holder's permission"?

I don't think it's strange or crazy at all.

Time for the tin-foil hats fellas.

Microsoft isn't really in the content business so why would microsoft care if the technology can be used for "sharing copyright music, movies, and TV shows without the copyright holder's permission"?

However they have massive plans to implement TC (Trustworthy Computing) which is basically anti-copy protection for whatever the hell they want. They also have implemented DRM in WMP10, which controls the use and watching of copyrighted material.

Have you ever tried to select and copy text from PDF files recently? Found it impossible? That's the kind of thing Microsoft are into.

Once they get a grip on bittorrent technology, they'll improve it and we'll love it. Then when we think all is rosy they'll implement monitoring and DRM so no one will be able to download copyrighted material using bittorrent. It'll be like Kazaa and co. P2P all over again. We'll need a new P2P system if MS's one takes off :S

I know it sounds farfetched, I would have thought so too if we all hadn't seen the rise and fall of Napster, Morpheus and Kazaa all at the hands of big business. Think about it - What does Microsoft have to gain from creating free software in order to distribute what is likely to be copyrighted material? They either want inside info on the bittorrent system or they want to dominate the market and then add a personalised MS (read: devastating) touch and take control.

oh diddums lets all cry when we can't engage in illegal activities. stfu noobs. go buy your s***.

Microsoft isn't really in the content business so why would microsoft care if the technology can be used for "sharing copyright music, movies, and TV shows without the copyright holder's permission"?

because you can download windows through torrents too fool

man just when i thought i wouldnt have to pay $150 for Enterprise dvd set :( oh well looks like ill have to wait...

last edited by Irhabi at 00:33:01 19/Jun/05

Im completly with Seven on this one.

Even if microsoft change the torrent accepted format, there will still be underground services a la Kazaa spawning into limewire

because you can download windows through torrents too fool

So then the article should be talking about software piracy then shouldn't it? And interviewing a Microsoft spokesperson about how Bittorrent is killing their business?

Microsoft has been dealing with public software piracy on the net for 10+ years now. During this time it hasn't tried to ban FTP or IRC or NNTP. It didn't embrace and extend these while introducing DRM to protect their rights.

It attacked the end distributors, lowered prices for main alledged offending groups - university students with big bandwidth and the only real way to access the net for a lot of that decade - and is trying to undermine the value of pirate software in countries where it is mass produced and sold through encouraging law enforcement and dramatically reducing the cost to end users of legitimate software ($1 a pop to Indonesean government, lowered retail costs in China, etc).

That's how you hinder piracy, significantly reduce the inflated cost of your product when there is mass demand and persue distributors/mass producers of pirate versions of your products, not avoid working on technologies that may be used to reproduce it but can provide significant benefits to your customers.

Yup - it's true. I was going to pirate some DVDs the other day, only to realise it would cost me less to buy the set, than to hire the set and buy blanks, etc...

Once they get a grip on bittorrent technology, they'll improve it and we'll love it. Then when we think all is rosy they'll implement monitoring and DRM so no one will be able to download copyrighted material using bittorrent. It'll be like Kazaa and co. P2P all over again. We'll need a new P2P system if MS's one takes off :S

First of all we could use a new P2P system, Bittorrent, while cool could be improved upon, if only to clean up the massive slawing that peers do to each other.

Anyway, bittorrent source is open and free to use. Even if MS come in and build a new torrent like system and then make it impossible to leech pirated products off of it, warez monkeys can still download their precious wares with products currently on the market, or that are still in development.

What does Microsoft have to gain from creating free software in order to distribute what is likely to be copyrighted material? They either want inside info on the bittorrent system or they want to dominate the market and then add a personalised MS (read: devastating) touch and take control.

There is no major secret on how bit torrent works. Anybody can go download the source and make their own variant of BT. So, if they really wanted to know the ‘inside info’ on BT, they can just can download it and have a look.

I also don’t see how anybody could take control of the entire market. The single largest market in p2p is the transferring of illicit software, something which MS isn’t really interested in.

If anything, MS is probably looking at a niche market of “legal software” transfer. Specifically a way for companies to distribute their software with any and all of the checksums that they currently have (email for a password, or purchase first).

Besides, not even MS isn’t dumb enough to think it could steal the entire p2p market away from geeks/nerds who created p2p to begin with.

Thats they they need to realize volume not margin will win them the day.

People who pirate are potential customers. You just have to get the price right. At the moment they treat them like the enemy instead of their future.

Charging $35 for $2 of plastic $1 of photo copying and a 50 case if not going to cut it.

Have you ever tried to select and copy text from PDF files recently? Found it impossible? That's the kind of thing Microsoft are into.

Works here. Ctrl-A, Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V.

More like Adobe.

looks very cool

things that might prevent its uptake:

1) if you haven't downloaded all the enocded blocks for a file then you won't be able to recover any part of the original file

if you are downloaded movies/isos/other binary content then this won't really be an issue

2) O(n^3) algorithm where 'n' is the number of blocks. could force large block size / splitting of files for really large files