Popular OS X and Linux BitTorrent client Transmission is coming to Windows. It’s not quite ready for prime time — gHacks spotted the first Windows build on the official repository — but it’s already better than any other Windows BitTorrent client out there.
This isn’t the first build for Windows, as there was an unofficial Windows build under the name Transmission-QT. But this time, it looks like the Transmission team wants to avoid confusion by releasing Windows builds on its website.
According to TorrentFreak, the next version should mark the official release on Transmission’s download page. But nothing is stopping you from downloading the initial release already.
Why is Transmission better than your average BitTorrent client? Transmission is free and doesn’t try to shove any ad down your throat. It’s not cluttered like µTorrent or Vuze as it doesn’t have a built-in video player or search engine.
Transmission is lightweight and open source. It focuses on downloading and does it very well. That’s why OS X and Linux users have used it massively for the past decade. If you’re like me and have purchased a ton of games from Humble Bundle, Transmission and Humble Bundle let me download my large games much more reliably than with a traditional HTTP download.
From my quick testing, it looks like the Windows app has the same features as its OS X counterpart. You can monitor RSS feeds, watch a folder for new .torrent files, control your client from a command-line interface or web interface and more.
Transmission also became famous as a build was recently infected with the first fully functional OS X ransomware. Apple revoked the ransomware’s Mac app development certificate and Transmission quickly released a new build to remove the ransomware. So let’s hope that the Transmission team has enhanced the security of its repository, as well.
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