[redm]

I just don't see this technology ever going mainstream. I first deployed this type of application in 2003. It was named Redswoosh and did effectively the same thing as BitTorrent, just in a closed client. I was also a very early adopter of BitTorrent using it personally.

Users hated it for general use, even when downloading big files. 1) They didn't like having to install/run some special software to download a file. 2) They didn't like the effects of uploading to others and it slowing down the connections.

Consumer networks are asymmetric having far more download capacity in upload capacity. This makes sense since 1) most users download and want to use the available bandwidth for faster downloads, and 2) it prevents commercial applications on consumer circuits. This is far from ideal for applications like BitTorrent.

I'm not saying there isn't an application for this technology, I'm saying all the good applications don't want to ask the users to pay for distribution to other users. Thus it's relegated to mostly piracy, open source, etc.

Bittorrent Inc. has been trying to commercialize this for a decade now, I just don't see it happening. If there was anyone who could commercialize it, it was Travis Kalnik, and while he exited for 20m, he was very lucky, (and happy) to get out of that market.

[snakeanus]

> I just don't see this technology ever going mainstream

It already is though.