Mainline Bittorrent client offers application support

CONTENT DISTRIBUTOR Bittorent Inc has updated its 'Mainline' Bittorrent client bringing with it support for in-client applications.

The capability has been enabled in a beta version of the upcoming Mainline 7.1 client, which the outfit says will be available within a fortnight. Third party Javascript applications will allow users to access games, media and music all within the confines of the client. A similar system has been available in the popular utorrent client, also maintained by Bittorrent Inc.

While the Mainline client doesn't enjoy the same popularity as utorrent or Azerus, it is regarded as the benchmark 'vanilla' client. Once open source, for the past three years it has been closed source and its feature set has remained fairly conservative. The same can be said for the timeline in adopting in-client applications, though the move seems to be part of a wider initiative with the firm seemingly angling for a content distribution deal.

In a bid to talk up the importance of in-client applications, Bittorrent Inc's CEO Eric Klinker said, "This is our first step as part of a broader strategic effort to bridge the divide between creators and consumers. Many software and gaming companies are finding success with a 'freemium' philosophy, and with over 14 million BitTorrent Mainline users, apps are an ideal distribution platform for this new generation of developers and creators."

The firm also announced APIs for developers to conjure up new applications, with an SDK and applications released from Bittorrent coming under a three-clause BSD license. It confirmed that new applications will be able to interact with other web services to grab data.

With in-client applications, Bittorrent Inc is undertaking the final push to see that its protocol is used for more than just filesharing. µ