Can Linux show us the bright side of P2P?
More often than not, the media and society in general casts torrent tracking and P2P sharing in a negative light--well, at least the big media companies do. Whether it's the EU trying to take down the Pirate Bay or the RIAA and MPAA bringing everybody under the sun to court, file-sharing is constantly given a bad rap.
Despite its bad rap, P2P has a number of positive qualities, many of which are brought out thanks to Linux. A sea of operating systems based on the open source kernel are online, available for download or are sent to consumers via CD in the mail. However, thanks to P2P, many Linux users can grab the OS of their choice via torrents. How? Meet Linuxtracker. Founded back in 2005 by Mark Angeli, the tracker listing site is free, open source, and a hot destination for Linux distros.
With the motto "we track tux so you don't have to", Linuxtracker has recently celebrated a major milestone. Over the last 12 months, Linuxtracker has distributed over 180 Terabytes worth of Linux-based OS. Starting with Slx, and now covering a myriad of different distros, the site sees better than average seed/leech ratios, and does not require users to register.
