BitTorrent Sync goes public, brings new features along

Back in January, I was fortunate enough to get an invitation to test the alpha version of the new BitTorrent Sync app -- an opportunity that excited me, given that I had recently learned my beloved Live Mesh would go away, thanks to Microsoft's own version of "Spring Cleaning". This left me in the market for a replacement.

Now BitTorrent announces that private testing is done and, while the app is still alpha, the company is ready to unleash it on the public. "We’re really excited about opening up this Alpha. The feedback has been universally positive. Those in the closed Alpha have already synced more than 200TB since we started the program on January 24", says BiTorrent's Christian Averill.

With the public release comes some updated features as well. There is one-way synchronization that allows you to sync to a read-only file. This allows for your team, or family, to receive updates from you without them having the ability to edit or accidentally delete the source material.

The new update also adds "One Time Secrets", which is a security feature for instances when you do not want a master key and need a use-once solution. The secret code expires after 24 hours.

Third, there is the option to exclude certain files or folders from Sync. This is handy if you, like me, want to sync your entire My Documents folder between computers, but have a file you wish to exclude for a particular reason.

Finally, there is also the usual update inclusion of bug fixes and the promise of more stable code, advanced preferences configuration, support of Intel-based Synology devices and an improved Linux WebUI.

The app, along with all of these updates, is now available to the public. As I stated, it is still considered alpha, and BitTorrent is promising many more updates are in the pipeline. The app is compatible with Windows Mac and Linux.

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