uTorrent Aquired by BitTorrent

**SPeedY_B** · December 7th, 2006

Crikey. Turn your back for a minute, and this happens...

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

**BouncingSoul** · December 7th, 2006

As long as it stays small and AWESOME I'll be happy... But it probably won't.

GEN3RIC · December 7th, 2006

I have low expectations for this. Just looked at who BitTorrent is as a company. they suck.

**SPeedY_B** · December 7th, 2006

A few points...

uTorrent Linux: Probably.
uTorrent OS X: Yes, but no time soon.
uTorrent Open Source: No.
uTorrent replace Mainline: No.
uTorrent staying free: Yes.
uTorrent Source: Fifty to sixty thousand lines.
Changes to uTorrent: Nothing now.
Who's developing uTorrent now: BitTorrent Inc. will do the majority.

I agree this can't be good. BitTorrent Inc. as a company suck. uTorrent is quite possibly one of the greatest pieces of software I've ever had the pleasure of using. It seems BTInc are set on getting uTorrent cross-platform, however their current OS X client is utter ****e, so we'll see.

It just seems a strange acquisition if they're going to continue the separate developments of mainline and uTorrent, though I think mainline will be faded out.

I don't doubt though if this all goes tits-up that someone else will come along and make the "new" uTorrent.

**Grandmaster** · December 7th, 2006

Originally Posted by SPeedY_B

I agree this can't be good. BitTorrent Inc. as a company suck. uTorrent is quite possibly one of the greatest pieces of software I've ever had the pleasure of using. It seems BTInc are set on getting uTorrent cross-platform, however their current OS X client is utter ****e, so we'll see.

It just seems a strange acquisition if they're going to continue the separate developments of mainline and uTorrent, though I think mainline will be faded out.

I don't doubt though if this all goes tits-up that someone else will come along and make the "new" uTorrent.

Exactly. This isn't good news

**ming** · December 7th, 2006

Azureus

*runs*

GEN3RIC · December 7th, 2006

BitTorrent sucks...... if they are doing the majority of development we might as well stop upgrading our uTorrent clients.

**SPeedY_B** · December 7th, 2006

Azureus sucks donkey balls harder than an imploding vacuum of death <-- 100% FACT!

Apparently Halite is a nice small client, comparable to uTorrent.

**American Zombie** · December 7th, 2006

People who are posting in the µTorrent forum announcement are not too happy about this.

**SPeedY_B** · December 7th, 2006

Bless 'em.

I'm on the fence, I do believe that BTInc has the capability to screw it up, yet without seeing into the future, we don't know if they will or not. Just wait and see, I guess

**Johnny** · December 10th, 2006

This is bad news. Looks like I will have to find a new client - Won't use the CRAP APP AZUREUS, Bitcomet is banned by every torrent site under the sun. I haven't found that fits what utorrent is .. Sheesh, the agony of looking again ..

**Grandmaster** · December 10th, 2006

You could just keep on using the copy of utorrent you have running right now forever.

Honestly, I don't think there's anything missing from it anyway.

**Johnny** · December 10th, 2006

Originally Posted by Grandmaster

You could just keep on using the copy of utorrent you have running right now forever.

Honestly, I don't think there's anything missing from it anyway.

right now .. What's to say what it adds or takes away in the future ?? With the deal that Bitorrent made with the MPAA, this is going to down hill real quick ..

**Tuffgong4** · December 10th, 2006

will have to check out halite...but since I have no idea what the future holds I'll just use the current version of utorrent that i am running now. I'm not going to go crazy and jump off til I see where utorrent goes with this.

**American Zombie** · December 10th, 2006

No big deal yet but if things are added that people who run trackers do not like then µTorrent may get banned by them. This would make even the current version more or less non-functional.

**Grandmaster** · December 10th, 2006

Originally Posted by American Zombie

No big deal yet but if things are added that people who run trackers do not like then µTorrent may get banned by them. This would make even the current version more or less non-functional.

Yeah that's probably the only real reason to abandon the *current* version of utorrent.

I can't help but feel somebody will be coming out with "utorrent-lite"

**Tuffgong4** · December 10th, 2006

something comparable will come out. Just have to wait and see.

**Brad** · December 11th, 2006

Why not just keep using the release that you have now? Will it suddenly stop working or something?

**ElementalDragon** · December 11th, 2006

i, too, hope uTorrent doesn't turn to sh*t because of this. far too many applications have done so due to being merged with another. granted i can't think of any at the moment.... but i'm fairly certain the numbers are vast.

Gus K · December 11th, 2006

They both have put a lot of time an energy into Bittorent, it's only natural and right that they make a few dollars on it.

December 7th, 2006	Top \| #1
SPeedY_B I may actually be insane. Joined: March 2002 Location: Midlands, England Posts: 15,800 Reputation: 2877 Power: 307	uTorrent Aquired by BitTorrent Crikey. Turn your back for a minute, and this happens... 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 1. SPeedYB.co.uk 2. CamPortal.co.uk 3. MacIRC.co.uk

December 7th, 2006	Top \| #2
BouncingSoul Stranger Than Fiction Joined: January 2004 Location: Sioux Falls, SD Posts: 1,289 Reputation: 877 Power: 118	Re: uTorrent Aquired by BitTorrent As long as it stays small and AWESOME I'll be happy... But it probably won't.

December 7th, 2006	Top \| #3
GEN3RIC OSNN Senior Addict Joined: April 2005 Location: Woodbury, MN Posts: 634 Reputation: 260 Power: 92	Re: uTorrent Aquired by BitTorrent I have low expectations for this. Just looked at who BitTorrent is as a company. they suck.

December 7th, 2006	Top \| #4
SPeedY_B I may actually be insane. Joined: March 2002 Location: Midlands, England Posts: 15,800 Reputation: 2877 Power: 307	Re: uTorrent Aquired by BitTorrent A few points... uTorrent Linux: Probably. uTorrent OS X: Yes, but no time soon. uTorrent Open Source: No. uTorrent replace Mainline: No. uTorrent staying free: Yes. uTorrent Source: Fifty to sixty thousand lines. Changes to uTorrent: Nothing now. Who's developing uTorrent now: BitTorrent Inc. will do the majority. I agree this can't be good. BitTorrent Inc. as a company suck. uTorrent is quite possibly one of the greatest pieces of software I've ever had the pleasure of using. It seems BTInc are set on getting uTorrent cross-platform, however their current OS X client is utter ****e, so we'll see. It just seems a strange acquisition if they're going to continue the separate developments of mainline and uTorrent, though I think mainline will be faded out. I don't doubt though if this all goes tits-up that someone else will come along and make the "new" uTorrent. 1. SPeedYB.co.uk 2. CamPortal.co.uk 3. MacIRC.co.uk

December 7th, 2006	Top \| #5
Grandmaster Electronica Addict Joined: February 2002 Location: Santa Clara, CA Posts: 10,574 Reputation: 2960 Power: 257	Re: uTorrent Aquired by BitTorrent Originally Posted by SPeedY_B I agree this can't be good. BitTorrent Inc. as a company suck. uTorrent is quite possibly one of the greatest pieces of software I've ever had the pleasure of using. It seems BTInc are set on getting uTorrent cross-platform, however their current OS X client is utter ****e, so we'll see. It just seems a strange acquisition if they're going to continue the separate developments of mainline and uTorrent, though I think mainline will be faded out. I don't doubt though if this all goes tits-up that someone else will come along and make the "new" uTorrent. Exactly. This isn't good news

Latest News Posts

Latest Forum Posts

Latest Member Blogs

December 7th, 2006	Top \| #6
ming OSNN Advanced Joined: June 2003 Location: UK Posts: 4,252 Reputation: 1160 Power: 159	Re: uTorrent Aquired by BitTorrent Azureus runs Curent system: Intel Quad Core 9450 \| 4GB RAM \| WD Raptor 36GB \| nVidia 8800GT 512mb

December 7th, 2006	Top \| #7
GEN3RIC OSNN Senior Addict Joined: April 2005 Location: Woodbury, MN Posts: 634 Reputation: 260 Power: 92	Re: uTorrent Aquired by BitTorrent BitTorrent sucks...... if they are doing the majority of development we might as well stop upgrading our uTorrent clients.

December 7th, 2006	Top \| #8
SPeedY_B I may actually be insane. Joined: March 2002 Location: Midlands, England Posts: 15,800 Reputation: 2877 Power: 307	Re: uTorrent Aquired by BitTorrent Azureus sucks donkey balls harder than an imploding vacuum of death <-- 100% FACT! Apparently Halite is a nice small client, comparable to uTorrent. 1. SPeedYB.co.uk 2. CamPortal.co.uk 3. MacIRC.co.uk

December 7th, 2006	Top \| #9
American Zombie OSNN Veteran Addict Joined: June 2004 Location: Seattle Posts: 2,849 Reputation: 2689 Power: 148	Re: uTorrent Aquired by BitTorrent People who are posting in the µTorrent forum announcement are not too happy about this.

December 7th, 2006	Top \| #10
SPeedY_B I may actually be insane. Joined: March 2002 Location: Midlands, England Posts: 15,800 Reputation: 2877 Power: 307	Re: uTorrent Aquired by BitTorrent Bless 'em. I'm on the fence, I do believe that BTInc has the capability to screw it up, yet without seeing into the future, we don't know if they will or not. Just wait and see, I guess 1. SPeedYB.co.uk 2. CamPortal.co.uk 3. MacIRC.co.uk

December 10th, 2006	Top \| #11
Johnny Paul Reed Smith Joined: January 2004 Location: Happy Valley Posts: 4,838 Reputation: 2369 Power: 170	Re: uTorrent Aquired by BitTorrent This is bad news. Looks like I will have to find a new client - Won't use the CRAP APP AZUREUS, Bitcomet is banned by every torrent site under the sun. I haven't found that fits what utorrent is .. Sheesh, the agony of looking again .. Paul Reed Smith.

December 10th, 2006	Top \| #12
Grandmaster Electronica Addict Joined: February 2002 Location: Santa Clara, CA Posts: 10,574 Reputation: 2960 Power: 257	Re: uTorrent Aquired by BitTorrent You could just keep on using the copy of utorrent you have running right now forever. Honestly, I don't think there's anything missing from it anyway.

December 10th, 2006	Top \| #13
Johnny Paul Reed Smith Joined: January 2004 Location: Happy Valley Posts: 4,838 Reputation: 2369 Power: 170	Re: uTorrent Aquired by BitTorrent Originally Posted by Grandmaster You could just keep on using the copy of utorrent you have running right now forever. Honestly, I don't think there's anything missing from it anyway. right now .. What's to say what it adds or takes away in the future ?? With the deal that Bitorrent made with the MPAA, this is going to down hill real quick .. Paul Reed Smith.

December 10th, 2006	Top \| #14
Tuffgong4 The Donger Need Food!!!! Joined: June 2002 Location: Chicago Posts: 2,465 Reputation: 840 Power: 150	Re: uTorrent Aquired by BitTorrent will have to check out halite...but since I have no idea what the future holds I'll just use the current version of utorrent that i am running now. I'm not going to go crazy and jump off til I see where utorrent goes with this. Home Intel E6600 \ Abit AB9 Pro \ 4 gig Corsair DDR2-667 \ EVGA 9800GT \ HDD 1 320GB sata + 1 1.5TB sata \ 1 1TB backup drive / Samsung S183L SATA DVD-RW \ Windows 7 Pro x64 Laptop Asus UL30VT\ Intel CULV SU7300 \ 4GB Ram \ Intel Integrated + Nvidia 200m \ 500GB HDD \ 13.3 inch LED \ Windows 7 Premium x64

December 10th, 2006	Top \| #15
American Zombie OSNN Veteran Addict Joined: June 2004 Location: Seattle Posts: 2,849 Reputation: 2689 Power: 148	Re: uTorrent Aquired by BitTorrent No big deal yet but if things are added that people who run trackers do not like then µTorrent may get banned by them. This would make even the current version more or less non-functional.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
utorrent	Bman	Windows Desktop Systems	6	February 22nd, 2007 2:50am
Newly Aquired iBook/Powerbook	Techno Child	Green Room	15	October 31st, 2006 9:21am
is it me or is it utorrent ??	Johnny	Windows Desktop Systems	7	October 9th, 2006 8:55am
Utorrent	brocher	Windows Desktop Systems	14	March 6th, 2006 3:01pm
Skins for uTorrent	tdinc	Windows Desktop Systems	4	February 4th, 2006 1:06am

December 10th, 2006	Top \| #16
Grandmaster Electronica Addict Joined: February 2002 Location: Santa Clara, CA Posts: 10,574 Reputation: 2960 Power: 257	Re: uTorrent Aquired by BitTorrent Originally Posted by American Zombie No big deal yet but if things are added that people who run trackers do not like then µTorrent may get banned by them. This would make even the current version more or less non-functional. Yeah that's probably the only real reason to abandon the current version of utorrent. I can't help but feel somebody will be coming out with "utorrent-lite"

December 10th, 2006	Top \| #17
Tuffgong4 The Donger Need Food!!!! Joined: June 2002 Location: Chicago Posts: 2,465 Reputation: 840 Power: 150	Re: uTorrent Aquired by BitTorrent something comparable will come out. Just have to wait and see. Home Intel E6600 \ Abit AB9 Pro \ 4 gig Corsair DDR2-667 \ EVGA 9800GT \ HDD 1 320GB sata + 1 1.5TB sata \ 1 1TB backup drive / Samsung S183L SATA DVD-RW \ Windows 7 Pro x64 Laptop Asus UL30VT\ Intel CULV SU7300 \ 4GB Ram \ Intel Integrated + Nvidia 200m \ 500GB HDD \ 13.3 inch LED \ Windows 7 Premium x64

December 11th, 2006	Top \| #18
Brad OSNN Veteran Addict Joined: March 2002 Location: Cary, NC Posts: 2,276 Blog Entries: 1 Reputation: 1552 Power: 158	Re: uTorrent Aquired by BitTorrent Why not just keep using the release that you have now? Will it suddenly stop working or something?

December 11th, 2006	Top \| #19
ElementalDragon The One and Only Joined: August 2002 Location: Lehighton, PA Posts: 3,160 Blog Entries: 3 Reputation: 1095 Power: 157	Re: uTorrent Aquired by BitTorrent i, too, hope uTorrent doesn't turn to sht because of this. far too many applications have done so due to being merged with another. granted i can't think of any at the moment.... but i'm fairly certain the numbers are vast. Core 2 Quad Q9450 \| 4GB DDR2 800 \| Abit IP-35 Pro \| eVGA GTX 295+ I Love Windows 7! Has my post been helpful to you? If so, please click the to the left to add to my reputation.*

December 11th, 2006	Top \| #20
Gus K NTFS abuser Joined: November 2002 Location: USA Posts: 380 Reputation: 30 Power: 116	Re: uTorrent Aquired by BitTorrent They both have put a lot of time an energy into Bittorent, it's only natural and right that they make a few dollars on it.