On 19/02/2012 01:22, Chris wrote:
You are a client on a network. I am thankful that people who have dated
ideas about the function of networks are not in position to make all of the
decisions. Progress will be their demise.
What are you talking about?
This is very simple :-
I have a lan, it has more than 1 internet connected computer on it. All
of them have Steam accounts.
If I run a game on one of those computers steam does not stop downloads
on all of the computers does it?
You understand that? So the fact that Steam stops downloads when you run
a game is next to useless functionality.
It isn't solving the problem.
In fact, it does nothing about other programs on the same machine using
the internet. So it doesn't even work if you only have one computer.
Or, Mr Effing Progressive, Steam stopping downloads does nothing about
the smartphones, the Tivo or the internet fridge that are sharing your
connection either.
So, from this we learn that the absolute last place you want to
implement network throttling or any other kind of network control is in
some random userland program running on windows 7 on one (or every)
machine on your LAN.
Programs that add bandwidth throttling or similar functionality to
themselves are dumb because it does not work. It's a waste of code.
That's actually another screw up that most Bitorrent clients do -
perhaps because bittorrent was designed with one idea in mind - to try
and distribute the blame for (c) theft away from a central source
(although the Swedish Courts seem to have demonstrated it didn't even
manage to do that) rather than to do anything useful or well.
But perhaps because BT clients make the mistake, that is probably why
AIUI people continually ask Valve to add it to Steam. At which point,
once you've got 2 programs trying to control your bandwidth on the same
machine it should be obvious what a bad idea adding it to those programs is.
So far it seems Valve have resisted the temptation to add more than they
do now to Steam (although they've threatened to add it in the past)
--
Dan
_______________________________________________
To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please
visit:
https://list.valvesoftware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hlds_linux
