uTorrent For Linux Is Coming, Finally

[Rart]

uTorrent For Linux Is Coming, Finally
June 01, 2010

" Five years after uTorrent was released for the Windows platform the development team has announced that it’s working on a Linux version of the torrent client. The massive demand from users is cited as one of the main reasons why Linux users will have a native uTorrent application this coming summer.


uTorrent for Windows saw its first public release in September 2005 and soon became the most widely used BitTorrent application. Every month, more than 50 million people use uTorrent and this number continues to grow alongside BitTorrent’s ever-increasing user base.

Ever since uTorrent was released, Mac and Linux users have begged the developers to release a version of the client designed to work on their computers. In 2006, when uTorrent was sold to BitTorrent Inc., the company announced that a Mac version was coming. In 2008, nearly two years after the announcement, it was finally released to the public.

With the the release of the Mac version, Linux users were the only ones left out in the cold, but this is about to change. The uTorrent development team has just announced that they are working on a Linux version of the client. Further details on the time line and an eventual release date are not available at the moment.

The Linux version is the most backed idea on uTorrent’s recently introduced Idea Bank. The Idea Bank is prominently featured on uTorrent’s website and allows users to submit and vote for ideas they want to see implemented. In just a few weeks the idea of a Linux version has been supported by 3254 people. This huge demand from users is one of the main reasons why the Linux version is now in progress.

“Since launching our Idea Bank on uTorrent.com there has been significant demand for a native client for Linux,” BitTorrent Inc. spokesperson Jenna Broughton told TorrentFreak. “We obviously want to do our best to deliver whenever we see a good fit between our goals and capabilities and what our users say they want.”

“We are committed to bringing a lightweight uTorrent client that embraces the usability and features of our Windows and Mac clients to Linux users,” Broughton said. The exact feature-set of the Linux client will remain a secret for now, but in common with other versions of uTorrent it wont be Open Source.

The release date for the client is unknown at this point but unlike the Mac version it should come out relatively quickly. “While the exact specs as well as the timing are still being developed, we expect uTorrent for Linux to be available for download later this summer,” we were informed.

Whether or not the uTorrent Linux release will ever reach the massive market share it has on Windows remains to be seen. The Mac version has been well received but it is by no means the most used BitTorrent client on the platform. Whatever happens, it’s definitely good to see that uTorrent will soon be available on all three major platforms. "

Source: uTorrent For Linux Is Coming, Finally Homepage: TorrentFreak

[A]

Nice idea of posting in Bittorrent section and then moving to News section .Great news and good to know all my votes didnt go to waste .

[Funkin']

Very nice.

[FedorTheOne]

Thank you torrent gods Once released i won't have to download files to my windows box then transfer them to my Linux box. Looks like Transmission is about to be shifted into park.

[Burnsy]

Interesting... will be looking out for this

[technobob]

Don't get your hopes up if the release will be like it was for Mac lacking many of the features that makes uTorrent so great on Windows. Even now that it's been a while since the release for Mac it's still missing a lot of features.

[iLOVENZB]

Thank you torrent gods Once released i won't have to download files to my windows box then transfer them to my Linux box. Looks like Transmission is about to be shifted into park.

What was wrong with WINE?

[A]

Don't get your hopes up if the release will be like it was for Mac lacking many of the features that makes uTorrent so great on Windows. Even now that it's been a while since the release for Mac it's still missing a lot of features.

The community around linux is much more vibrant,better and dedicated than the spoon fed lazy ass dumb Mac users.So expect it to be a feature rich and stable one

What was wrong with WINE?

Wine+uTorrent takes much more system resources and has frequent crashes and problems (especially in a shared seedbox).Its always better to have fully compatible softwares for obvious reasons as well.

[Cabalo]

The community around linux is much more vibrant,better and dedicated than the spoon fed lazy ass dumb Mac users.So expect it to be a feature rich and stable one

So true, so true.

[technobob]

The community around linux is much more vibrant,better and dedicated than the spoon fed lazy ass dumb Mac users.So expect it to be a feature rich and stable one

What community uTorrent is not open source so you only have a few dev's working on it. As for your comment about Mac to each his own personally I think Linux sucks and will remain a niche OS for many many years to come.