Vista Scores Big on the Internet

Vista becomes largest downloading event ever

Everyone knew the public release of Windows Vista Beta 2 was going to be a rather big event for Microsoft. Not only could it give customers a chance to try out its latest operating system, but it would also get feedback/commentary from the millions of consumers using Vista before its Q1 07 retail launch.

According to Microsoft, its public launch of Vista Beta 2 has gone well beyond expectations and is labeled as the "Biggest software download event in history." Microsoft claims that if they served bits any faster, they'd risk the possibility of bringing the Internet to its knees. Microsoft also states that they looked into BiTorrent as a possible delivery system, but decided against it. Longhorn Blogs reports:

Q: What about BitTorrent?

A: We thought about Bit Torrent a lot, especially in the planning stages for this. There are legal and privacy issues which unfortunately make that not an option for Microsof to officially sponsor a BitTorrent. I really wish we could do it, but we can't. If someone BitTorrent's we can't guarantee that they've got an unaltered copy, etc.