BitTorrent Protocol and Source Closed
Now I guess it makes sense why Bram wanted to “buy all rights” from the other quasi-silent BT devs, in particular the protocol design. Shame, Bram. You should’ve been honest.
UPDATE 8/10: After a couple days to ponder this more, I’m even more disappointed than I was. While a large proponent of open source, I don’t much care what Bram does with it. The source code to BT isn’t where the value is, it’s the protocol. Closing a protocol, is like telling someone they’re not allowed to talk your language anymore. It would be the Bush Administration saying “Cubans are evil, so we’re not going to allow them to speak English anymore.” Given the historical ignorance of this White House, I’d have expected that BEFORE I expected Bram to close the BT protocol.
A protocol is a culture embedded in technology: It defines etiquette between systems; it defines grammar and speech; it defines nouns and verbs. You learn a lot about humanity when you read well-written protocols: It’s not like learning a new language, it’s like being immersed in a new culture. That culture has been taken to a private island, and no one is allowed to experience it unless you’re declared fit by the czar.
On the plus side, this will spur some new innovations. BT has some serious flaws: flaws that have been well known and accepted on the grounds of ease-of-coding and portability. The paradigm can change, the flaws fixed, and a new format can be created and in a Darwinistic dual, we’ll see which succeeds. Of course, this assumes that the czar doesn’t unleash the lawyer-hounds.
Protocols should never be exclusive. Never. They should be the most open parts of our technological society.
