While Bittorrent is currently known as one of the favorite ways to distribute warez across the 'Net, it's also use very legitimately by many organizations who are making various downloads available.
Here are some of its advantages:
1- a downloader also uploads, even while the file is not finished downloading.
2- The more you upload, the more you recieve from peers downloading.
3- Once you finished downloading, you can help everyone by letting the client running, letting other people download. Your bandwidth is added to the host's.
4- it works only on the specified files, and is not like other P2P apps where you pre-designate a download/upload share dir.
5- the files are CRCd. The torrent is CRCd. It is impossible to pretend to upload something that isn't the real content without the CRC check failing. For that to happen, you have fetched a file that was compromised at the source. Since the source is ME, it helps!
So!
If your buddy needs OP+3.4.. and he's complaining it's slow, hop on with the torrent and point to your completed file. You become a 'seed' and start making yourself available too, as a source for the duration. Your bandwidth is added to the server where I am hosting this file and things go faster.
Feel free to help out.
-- Luc