Novell Strips BitTorrent DHT Technology from openSUSE
Submitted by srlinuxx on Sun, 11/22/2009 - 18:12
Sponsored by Novell, openSUSE is a free and Open Source operating system, based on Linux. Following in the footsteps of Ubuntu, OpenSUSE recently decided to include Transmission as the default BitTorrent client.
However, the addition of Transmission to openSUSE was not straightforward. Since Transmission comes with DHT support – a technology that helps BitTorrent users to find peers – Novell thought that the application could possibly make openSUSE liable for copyright infringement under German law.
In order to avoid legal problems, Novell and openSUSE therefore decided to ship the operating system with a DHT-less version of Transmission while they tried to work out a solution with their lawyer.
This is why...
As much as I respect what Novell and OpenSuse do for Linux, this is why I don't use it. It's aggravating when they strip out so much for fear of lawsuits, or whatever. I understand, but it just doesn't work for me.