BitTorrent 2005 part 4, Bram Talking
BitTorrent’s founder Bram Cohen doesn’t like to be in the news a lot. But once you create the worlds most effective filesharing technology, you can’t escape. Here are some quotes from Bram in 2005
1. Bram’s Technological Activist’s Agenda
I am a technological activist….. I further my goals with technology. I build systems to disseminate information, commit digital piracy…… link
Earlier this year Bram Cohen was facing legal threaths because of an old (1999) agenda that was buried on his website. His reaction:
“That was written in a combative confrontation style; I wasn’t really talking about anything. It was a reaction-getting thing…. I think it’s pretty clear the way that was written is that it was written in voice. It was an exaggerated character speaking it.”
2. Bram on 24×7
A video of Bram talking about himself and BitTorrent for the 24×7 film experiment.
3. Bram about his Asperger’s syndrome
Q: You’ve been open about being diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome. How has that affected you as a software author?
A:“It makes you less emotional when you’re coding. It’s like you don’t take it personally when the computer doesn’t work well.”
“I make a tool. It’s a very powerful and general-purpose tool, but it is a lot like a car. Its primary function is a very, very utilitarian one. Cars kill people, you know, a lot more than guns do, but we still love our cars.”
5. Bram about Avalanche, Microsoft’s BitTorrent
“It’s Vaporware.”
“I hate dealing with computers in general, so I’m typically OS-agnostic, I’ve most recently been abused by a windows machine, so I hate that the most for the moment.”
The only shows he watches are those he buys on DVD. He particularly loved the first season of Paris Hilton’s The Simple Life. “You can watch that show for six hours,” Cohen says, “and your brain is still empty.”
part 1: A rough start
part 2: Legal stuff
part 3: Going Down
part 4: Bram Talking
part 5: Filling the gap
part 6: Torrent Clients
part 7: Advancing
