Pawel Garbacki is working on his PhD in distributed systems at TU Delft. Having studied mathematics and computer science at Poland’s Warsaw University, Garbacki decided to focus solely on computer science for his Master’s and PhD studies in the Netherlands.
Share
His new program, Tribler, could revolutionize the way we use the Internet.
Tribler is, at first glance, a p2p (peer-to-peer) file sharing system. There is however much more to it than that. One of Tribler’s most remarkable features is that it can transform an ordinary computer into a TV channel, allowing independent artists to broadcast to the world via the web.
“Currently, costs hinder many independent artists, but with Tribler the cost, in terms of bandwidth, is distributed among users,” says Garbacki, who also spends his summers working at IBM’s research labs in New York. “Anybody with an Internet connection can broadcast live video to millions of users.”
With Tribler, rather than viewers streaming from a single site (which with a lot of viewers, requires lots of bandwidth, and would cost the creator a lot of money), they download from other users, thus distributing the costs . everyone pays a little bit, instead of one person paying a lot.
“It’s a less commercial, more democratic way of distributing live media,” Garbacki says. The revolution is growing; Tribler software has been downloaded 60,000 times in its first 3 months.
The Tribler system has been described as ‘social file sharing’. In contrast with existing systems, Tribler is not anonymous, however, and this allows users to form groups with friends and users with similar interests. “This is safer, because you download from people you can trust, and a rating system increases the chances that what you download will be what you expect,” Garbacki explains.
This small network of friends then makes up part of a larger network, which is part of an even bigger network, and so on. “The system is extremely scalable, it could be used for distributing homemade movies on the small scale, up to entire libraries of e-books on a larger scale,” Garbacki says. “It’s the next generation solution for the distribution of archived and live content. In future, we will watch the computer screen instead of the TV.”
Another possibility is to use these networks as very distributed servers for local storage; websites could be hosted for little cost on friends’ computers. It will surely also interest many people to know that downloads are potentially twice as fast with Tribler.
Illegal porn
Not everyone loves Tribler, however. Headlines like, ‘Dutch government funds research for distribution of illegal porn’, appeared in the press last month, and while Garbacki is eager to disassociate Tribler from illegal file sharing . “the goal from the beginning was the distribution of legal stuff, for free,” . he’s also pragmatic about the motives of the press, saying: “Journalists will always go for controversy. We’re providing a platform, but cannot be held responsible for misuse of the system. If one person downloads illegal files from a website, does that mean you should shut down all websites?”
But, as they say, there’s no such thing as bad publicity . Tribler downloads tripled in the wake of the reports. And there was more good news elsewhere, as less reactionary critics also endorsed the new technology. The Tribler team beat off stiff competition to win the lucrative (€ 10,000) Vosko prize for business and innovation in 2006, giving further indication of its massive potential.
Garbacki says he chose TU Delft because “the peer-to-peer networks group here is one of the biggest in Europe, if not the world.” He finds there are more opportunities to pursue practical work here, compared to universities in Poland. Garbacki: “In Warsaw, the study is more theoretically oriented. They don’t have the resources to let students use expensive hardware.”
He also praises the Dutch work ethic. “I’m impressed by the professionalism of the people here . if I could choose any country to work in, it would be Holland,” he adds.
From his experiences at Amsterdam’s Vrije University, where he earned his Master’s degree, Garbacki notes that TU Delft is lagging behind in terms of internationalization. “At TU Delft most of PhDs and researchers are Dutch. More nationalities are visible at Vrije University, among the staff and part-time and associate professors,” he observes. “In Amsterdam, student organizations are also more active than in Delft, fighting for international students’ issues. That’s not visible here in Delft.”
Garbacki says that when he first arrived in Amsterdam, he took part in an integration trip, jointly organized by the university and student associations. “They gathered all the new international and Dutch students, packed us into a coach and took us out to the woods for a few days,” he recalls. “Virtually all the new students from the dormitory went.” Garbacki also suggests that TU Delft should increase the level of support to PhDs in finding accommodation, as well as improving integration events, both at the Master’s and PhD level.
These days, Garbacki works entirely in Dutch, which is rare for someone in his position. “Most PhDs don’t plan on staying in the Netherlands long-term. Learning Dutch is time consuming, and not even necessary,” he says. “You do it only for a hobby or for your own pride.”
Garbacki is part of a growing influx of scientific talent to the Netherlands. But while this may be good for the Netherlands, isn’t it a bad thing for countries like Poland? “Yes it is,” Garbacki admits. “But I have trust in my country and am planning to go back. In ten years, the Polish economy will be at the same level as the Netherlands. Look at Asia, where there is currently a lot of migration to the West, but in 40 years time, it’s going to be in the opposite direction.”
Pawel Garbacki. (Photo: Hans Stakelbeek/FMAX)
Pawel Garbacki is working on his PhD in distributed systems at TU Delft. Having studied mathematics and computer science at Poland’s Warsaw University, Garbacki decided to focus solely on computer science for his Master’s and PhD studies in the Netherlands. His new program, Tribler, could revolutionize the way we use the Internet.
Tribler is, at first glance, a p2p (peer-to-peer) file sharing system. There is however much more to it than that. One of Tribler’s most remarkable features is that it can transform an ordinary computer into a TV channel, allowing independent artists to broadcast to the world via the web.
“Currently, costs hinder many independent artists, but with Tribler the cost, in terms of bandwidth, is distributed among users,” says Garbacki, who also spends his summers working at IBM’s research labs in New York. “Anybody with an Internet connection can broadcast live video to millions of users.”
With Tribler, rather than viewers streaming from a single site (which with a lot of viewers, requires lots of bandwidth, and would cost the creator a lot of money), they download from other users, thus distributing the costs . everyone pays a little bit, instead of one person paying a lot.
“It’s a less commercial, more democratic way of distributing live media,” Garbacki says. The revolution is growing; Tribler software has been downloaded 60,000 times in its first 3 months.
The Tribler system has been described as ‘social file sharing’. In contrast with existing systems, Tribler is not anonymous, however, and this allows users to form groups with friends and users with similar interests. “This is safer, because you download from people you can trust, and a rating system increases the chances that what you download will be what you expect,” Garbacki explains.
This small network of friends then makes up part of a larger network, which is part of an even bigger network, and so on. “The system is extremely scalable, it could be used for distributing homemade movies on the small scale, up to entire libraries of e-books on a larger scale,” Garbacki says. “It’s the next generation solution for the distribution of archived and live content. In future, we will watch the computer screen instead of the TV.”
Another possibility is to use these networks as very distributed servers for local storage; websites could be hosted for little cost on friends’ computers. It will surely also interest many people to know that downloads are potentially twice as fast with Tribler.
Illegal porn
Not everyone loves Tribler, however. Headlines like, ‘Dutch government funds research for distribution of illegal porn’, appeared in the press last month, and while Garbacki is eager to disassociate Tribler from illegal file sharing . “the goal from the beginning was the distribution of legal stuff, for free,” . he’s also pragmatic about the motives of the press, saying: “Journalists will always go for controversy. We’re providing a platform, but cannot be held responsible for misuse of the system. If one person downloads illegal files from a website, does that mean you should shut down all websites?”
But, as they say, there’s no such thing as bad publicity . Tribler downloads tripled in the wake of the reports. And there was more good news elsewhere, as less reactionary critics also endorsed the new technology. The Tribler team beat off stiff competition to win the lucrative (€ 10,000) Vosko prize for business and innovation in 2006, giving further indication of its massive potential.
Garbacki says he chose TU Delft because “the peer-to-peer networks group here is one of the biggest in Europe, if not the world.” He finds there are more opportunities to pursue practical work here, compared to universities in Poland. Garbacki: “In Warsaw, the study is more theoretically oriented. They don’t have the resources to let students use expensive hardware.”
He also praises the Dutch work ethic. “I’m impressed by the professionalism of the people here . if I could choose any country to work in, it would be Holland,” he adds.
From his experiences at Amsterdam’s Vrije University, where he earned his Master’s degree, Garbacki notes that TU Delft is lagging behind in terms of internationalization. “At TU Delft most of PhDs and researchers are Dutch. More nationalities are visible at Vrije University, among the staff and part-time and associate professors,” he observes. “In Amsterdam, student organizations are also more active than in Delft, fighting for international students’ issues. That’s not visible here in Delft.”
Garbacki says that when he first arrived in Amsterdam, he took part in an integration trip, jointly organized by the university and student associations. “They gathered all the new international and Dutch students, packed us into a coach and took us out to the woods for a few days,” he recalls. “Virtually all the new students from the dormitory went.” Garbacki also suggests that TU Delft should increase the level of support to PhDs in finding accommodation, as well as improving integration events, both at the Master’s and PhD level.
These days, Garbacki works entirely in Dutch, which is rare for someone in his position. “Most PhDs don’t plan on staying in the Netherlands long-term. Learning Dutch is time consuming, and not even necessary,” he says. “You do it only for a hobby or for your own pride.”
Garbacki is part of a growing influx of scientific talent to the Netherlands. But while this may be good for the Netherlands, isn’t it a bad thing for countries like Poland? “Yes it is,” Garbacki admits. “But I have trust in my country and am planning to go back. In ten years, the Polish economy will be at the same level as the Netherlands. Look at Asia, where there is currently a lot of migration to the West, but in 40 years time, it’s going to be in the opposite direction.”
Pawel Garbacki. (Photo: Hans Stakelbeek/FMAX)
Comments are closed.