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Bittorrent Capability for Browsers

 use your browser to open .torrent files
  (+1, -3)
(+1, -3) 		  [vote for,
against]

I think downloading via bittorrent should be a capability built into web browsers. It should be transparent to the user whether they are downloading via torrent or directly from a server. The web is becomming more decentralised so it only makes sense that it become an implicit part of how we surf the net.
—arrogant_worm, Oct 11 2006

Sounds like this. Distributed_20web_20hosting
Distributed web hosting [st3f, Oct 12 2006]

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       I bloody well hope web pages never get so large that bit torrent is necessary to view them. Given the time it would take to find another person viewing the same page at the same time I am viewing it and coordinating the exchange would probably only work for very popular pages that have static contact and tens of megabytes of data. Most web pages are session dependent and read once. Bit torrent is best for large static files that will be stored and played many times.
—cjacks, Oct 12 2006
   

       True, but there is plenty of popular static content such as youtube and Google Videos. They could have a system whereby once a video becomes popular enough, download requests switch over to bittorrent while the less popular videos are still downloaded directly from the server. The point is that it all remains transparent to the user and makes the most efficient use between server and bittorrent resources.
—arrogant_worm, Oct 12 2006
   

       I'll bet Microsoft gets right on board with that.
—RXAaron, Oct 12 2006
   

       I don't want to waste half my pipe to upload web pages for others. I pay for it, its mine. The operator of the web site should be providing sufficient bandwidth for their customer base.(-)
—Galbinus_Caeli, Oct 12 2006
   

       No problem, the browser security section could have a checkbox that lets you opt out of involuntary bittorrent activity. You could just use it when you specifically want to open a .torrent file.
—arrogant_worm, Oct 12 2006
   

       Might there be one of those clever Firefox plugins that does exactly this?
—zen_tom, Oct 12 2006
   

       I have to admit that where I live has relatively primitive connectivity. Getting a 33Kbps connection is a bit of luck. YouTube and Vidios are something that would require “start and go to bed”, and since the server tends to reset every so often it typically takes a few attempts with a download manager that will restart the download. There is probably sufficient market to support your proposal in many locations with high speed connections and relatively balanced hither and yound speeds. But booger if it isn’t getting hard to download the updates to the browsers. I almost need to start and go to bed with them.
—cjacks, Oct 12 2006
   

       This is completely doable, as long as the existing webservers work both as seeds and peers, so if no one else is serving the data you can still get it from the server just as usual.   

       Couple this with tracking algorithms to how well each user contributes, and allow them to earn priority connections.
—ironfroggy, Oct 13 2006
   


 

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