as it turns out the idea I had of combining bittorrents with files/RSS is the latest craze.

BitTorrent and RSS Create Disruptive Revolution -December 14, 2003
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1413418,00.asp

Speed Meets Feed in Download Tool - 02:00 AM Mar. 15, 2004 PT
http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,62651,00.html

to correct my previous statement: the BT system uses http to download the torrent file. the 'final file' that is delivered is orchestrated via a tracker that usually runs on ports other than 80, using TCP.

while I could be callous and state that if your company prohibits you from downloading material from other than port 80 *http* maybe it's cuz your company thinks you should be working instead of downloading non-work related material? call me crazy...

on the other hand:
http://discuss.fogcreek.com/joelonsoftware...=show&ixPost=121796
deja vu
Tuesday, March 09, 2004

...some trackers do in fact seed on port 80, rare though they may be. You can look for those. Also, most clients (Azureus for one) allow you to specify the incoming port to use.

so hope may be around the corner for you office monkeys, i'll be looking into it.