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What's your opinion about the new video distribution based on P2P of Wikipedia?

http://techblog.wikimedia.org/2010/09/video-labs-p2p-next-community-cdn-for-video-distribution/

I think it will be a big revolution in the net. Think about the application of this kind of approach to social network: why I need to store my photos on a private company server if I can keep them on my computer (and some replicas spread over my friend computer) and share them in a easy way? With good protocols, distributed file system, and of course software we can build an Internet 2.0, where not only the content but also the infractructure (badwidth, storage, cpu) are given by users.

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This is old as me. – Andrejs Cainikovs Sep 28 '10 at 18:43
@Andrejs: what do you mean? – wiso Sep 28 '10 at 19:00
why OT? from FAQ: If you are in charge of … servers networks many desktop PCs (other than your own) … then you're in the right place to ask your question. I'm talking about network! – wiso Sep 28 '10 at 19:44
I'm talking about mechanism itself. It's not innovation: pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2006/pulpit_20060302_000886.html. Just finally someone is willing to implement that. – Andrejs Cainikovs Sep 29 '10 at 7:36
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closed as off topic by Warner, ErikA, splattne♦ Sep 28 '10 at 19:34

Questions on Server Fault are expected to generally relate to servers, networking, or desktop infrastructure, within the scope defined in the faq.

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Awesome an idea as this might be, there are some serious hurdles to overcome first before global adoption could be possible.

First and foremost, metered internet. This might possibly be the show-stopper. From the implausible 2 GB/month to the less-insane-but-still-makes-this-idea-impractical 250 GB/month, this would kill transfer-capped connection like nothing else.

If you somehow managed to get around the caps or even get every capping ISP in the world on board (Hah!), just how user-friendly could this possibly get? While it could get user-friendly, the likelihood of that, I think we all know, is almost nil. It will be developed with the more tech-savvy of us in mind. Good for us, bad for the project long-term.

Also along for the problem ride is the less-debilitating but still-infuriating fact that almost all home users have asynchronous connections. Left unrestricted, the user would be absolutely deadlocked due to upload speeds. Restricted, and you've got yourself a sub-optimal network to deal with. Optional, and you might as well ask yourself, "What network?"

Don't get me wrong, I'd love nothing more than to see this come to fruition and it takes off and is the next big revolution on the internet, but I'd be lying to you if I didn't tell you I thought it had an iceburg's chance in a molten metal factory.

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your objections make sense but at present day some companies are thinking about it, for example wuala, leafnetwork, ... (do you know others?) and I think it's very good if an open project like Wikipedia is using and developping an usable solution. – wiso Sep 28 '10 at 19:23
The Wikipedia one is the first time I'd heard of a solution such as this, personally. I'll probably be looking at the others when I get home :P Also, I totally agree that it's good that Wikimedia is working on it instead of, say... MS or Apple or some other giant. It certainly stands a more solid chance of long-term success because of it in my opinion. If it gets to long-term, that is. – Aeo Sep 28 '10 at 19:35
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