BitTorrent launched closed testing of Maelstrom browser
BitTorrent, the manufacturer of the well-known P2P client µTorrent, announced in its blog that it invites everyone to take part in the closed alpha testing of its new project, the Maelstrom browser. CEO Eric Clinker in this regard asks the question: "What if most of the web worked the same way as BitTorrent works?".
The main idea of ​​the new browser is to try to get away from the traditional model of work on the Internet, when a user, by typing a URL, connects to a centralized server and receives some information from it. Instead, it is proposed to organize a system for publishing and viewing entire sites in a special mode just as it is done in torrent clients - the company calls this “distributed web” (distributed web). The main developer of Maelstrom promises that this will be as simple as preparing a regular torrent file, only HTML files that are ready for display in a browser will be distributed instead of audio or video.
At the same time, of course, there are problems specific to the technology: for example, not every site can be published in such a way that anyone can download its source code. On the other hand, the mechanism of access to such sites is not quite clear - you will have to create some sort of DNS in order not to force users to exchange hexadecimal hashes instead of the usual URLs in the “centralized Internet”.
In the past few years, BitTorrent has been diligently trying to get away from the image of the "pirates accomplice", which was imposed on it by the right holders. The company uses P2P to create other applications, such as the well-known client for BitTorrent Sync data synchronization, willingly responds and supports research in which it is concluded that using torrents does not mean being pirates at all. Also, quite a lot of publicity is received by her projects, in which musical albums of very famous groups, such as Radiohead, are published and distributed using the Bundle technology.
The main idea of ​​the new browser is to try to get away from the traditional model of work on the Internet, when a user, by typing a URL, connects to a centralized server and receives some information from it. Instead, it is proposed to organize a system for publishing and viewing entire sites in a special mode just as it is done in torrent clients - the company calls this “distributed web” (distributed web). The main developer of Maelstrom promises that this will be as simple as preparing a regular torrent file, only HTML files that are ready for display in a browser will be distributed instead of audio or video.
At the same time, of course, there are problems specific to the technology: for example, not every site can be published in such a way that anyone can download its source code. On the other hand, the mechanism of access to such sites is not quite clear - you will have to create some sort of DNS in order not to force users to exchange hexadecimal hashes instead of the usual URLs in the “centralized Internet”.
In the past few years, BitTorrent has been diligently trying to get away from the image of the "pirates accomplice", which was imposed on it by the right holders. The company uses P2P to create other applications, such as the well-known client for BitTorrent Sync data synchronization, willingly responds and supports research in which it is concluded that using torrents does not mean being pirates at all. Also, quite a lot of publicity is received by her projects, in which musical albums of very famous groups, such as Radiohead, are published and distributed using the Bundle technology.
')
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/357502/
All Articles