BitTorrent, Inc. Acquires uTorrent

[lysine]

Another BT bites the dust

It looks as though BitTorrent is looking to further spread its wings now that it has received an infusion of cash from investors. In May of this year, BitTorrent first went legitimate by scoring a movie distribution deal with Warner Brothers. Later in July, the company landed another distribution deal with independent movie distributor Image Entertainment.

BitTorrent is now using part of its $20 million USD in financing to purchase the popular uTorrent BitTorrent application. uTorrent has been praised for its lightweight profile (170 kB application) and memory footprint (around 4 MB during typical usage). Bram Cohen and Ludvig Strigeus, the writers of the uTorrent application, had this to say about the acquisition:

What does this mean for the µTorrent community? Not much, at least not at first. The intention is to maintain the website as it is, and keep the forums and community active. Moving forward behind the scenes, we will continue to develop µTorrent and will be using the codebase in other applications, especially ones where a fast, lightweight implementation is more suitable, such as embedded systems on TVs, cell phones, and other non-PC platforms.

There was mixed reaction on the uTorrent forums with regards to the uTorrent-BitTorrent deal. "Absolute disgrace...Bit Torrent are now affiliated with the big players Warner Brothers for example, and they have signed an agreement to distribute digital content through the Bit Torrent client, what does this mean? basically that uTorrent will be that distribution client at some point in the future, and how long before we see adverts for movies within uTorrent," said antk1 on the uTorrent forums. Another user, doink-chan, was more gracious with regards to the announcement "As long as µTorrent keeps being a good program and doesn't become doinky, I have no problem with it."

For those that of you that are uTorrent fans, you might want to go ahead and grab the latest stable copy of the application before it is rolled up into BitTorrent's official client. You can also catch the FAQ regarding the acquisition...

Source: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5280
View FAQ: http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=17278

[Hairbautt]

Bummer. uTorrent was my personal favorite. I think someone is going to get a team together and create another client that's like utor.

[lysine]

since the above article is not the content I originally posted, could it be removed and reposted by someone else?

"Another BT bites the dust" wouldn't be an accurate representation of what's transpired.

[Hairbautt]

since the above article is not the content I originally posted, could it be removed and reposted by someone else?

"Another BT bites the dust" wouldn't be an accurate representation of what's transpired.

Sorry, a forum post isn't exactly a good source for news. I pulled an article from a known news site (DailyTech), but I did link the post from the uTorrent site.

[BawA]

crap!!!
but as far as uTorrent doesn't change and get stuffed with cydoor's am happy other ways am gonna switch back to Azureus.
some how i think BT Inc will in some point either by force and influence of Movies Industries or by a big 7-8 Digit cheque will limit uTorrent to legalized movie download which their being paid for.

oh btw what will happen to uTorrent's Web Interface Project?

[mr. nails]

since the above article is not the content I originally posted, could it be removed and reposted by someone else?

that's why i don't post news...

on subject this seems really gay for me and good for the utorrent fella's for i'm sure they made some cash, but i'm not gonna be supporting a bit torrent client that works w/warner bros., inc.

[lysine]

Sorry, a forum post isn't exactly a good source for news. I pulled an article from a known news site (DailyTech), but I did link the post from the uTorrent site.

sorry, but I don't consider there to be a better source, than from ludde and bram themselves, on the official utorrent site:

This is Bram Cohen, the creator of the BitTorrent protocol, and Ludvig (Ludde) Strigeus, the writer of µTorrent.

Together, we are pleased to announce that BitTorrent, Inc. and µTorrent AB have decided to join forces. BitTorrent has acquired µTorrent as it recognized the merits of µTorrent's exceptionally well-written codebase and robust user community. Bringing together µTorrent's efficient implementation and compelling UI with BitTorrent's expertise in networking protocols will significantly benefit the community with what we envision will be the best BitTorrent client.

What does this mean for the µTorrent community? Not much, at least not at first. The intention is to maintain the website as it is, and keep the forums and community active. Moving forward behind the scenes, we will continue to develop µTorrent and will be using the codebase in other applications, especially ones where a fast, lightweight implementation is more suitable, such as embedded systems on TVs, cell phones, and other non-PC platforms.

The existent µTorrent and BitTorrent communities are immensely valuable to us, which is why we are announcing this here first to make sure you're all the first to know about the news. The plan is to continue to foster the health and growth of the community that has been critical to the success of µTorrent. Thank you in advance for your support.

Bram and Ludde

+++++

http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=17278


I'd rather not have my screenname associated with a post that I did not make.

please delete this post, and repost it with your own screenname please, as it's not what I originally posted.

in the How To Post News sticky at the top, nor in the New Thread options, does it mention what is considered a "respectable source."

[Colt Seevers]

I totally missed this one..

I think this is the begining of the end for Utorrent, I hope im wrong. But I also think that if utorrent does go downhill then someone else will just fill the gap.

[gido4321]

crap!