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Windows 10 Commandeers Users' Upload Bandwidth

posted by takyon on Tuesday August 04 2015, @07:50PM   Printer-friendly
from the embrace-extend-share dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket uploads this Windows shocker:

Microsoft will use its customers' upload bandwidth to deliver Windows 10's updates and apps with a peer-to-peer technology resembling BitTorrent, a fact that has caught some by surprise.

Baked into Windows 10 is a new technology Microsoft dubbed "Windows Update Delivery Optimization" (WUDO) that is turned on by default for all editions of Windows 10. However, only some SKUs (stock-keeping units) -- notably Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro -- are set to provide updates and apps to other devices when connected to the public Internet.

Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Education, volume-licensed SKUs for large companies and organizations, also have WUDO enabled, but default to sharing updates and apps only within a local network.

WUDO resembles BitTorrent in its basics, and like that file-sharing technology, uses a peer-to-peer delivery system to spread the load to PCs worldwide rather than relying on a centralized-servers model.

If WUDO is enabled, Microsoft can point others to locally-cached copies of updates and apps on users' Windows 10 devices that are connected to the Internet. When that happens, a user's Windows 10 PC acts as a substitute server for others, and any customer whose device is tapped for WUDO delivery has given Microsoft access to their upload bandwidth.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 04 2015, @08:36PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 04 2015, @08:36PM (#218095)

    Just figure out how to get a copy of the Enterprise edition.

    It allows you to turn off all the shit you'll have to. Stuff like the telemetry, cortana, p2p updates, location tracking/sharing bullshit...and on and on.

  • (Score: 2) by wantkitteh on Tuesday August 04 2015, @10:18PM

    by wantkitteh (3362) on Tuesday August 04 2015, @10:18PM (#218178) Homepage Journal

    Windows 10 is supports WSUS, so enterprise users can continue to use the same proxy update servers they've been using.