BitTorrent launches, then pulls new distributed chat app

Filesharing software company BitTorrent on Thursday released two new pieces of software: µTorrent 3.0, a new stable release to the popular freeware BitTorrent client, and µChat beta, a new distributed chat app for µTorrent and BitTorrent Chrysalis.

µChat lets users communicate with each other from within their filesharing clients, with the ability to create persistent or temporary chatrooms by topic, to engage in private one-to-one conversation, to create buddy lists, and to "quick share" torrents via direct links to chat buddies.

The beta was rolled out on Thursday morning in the µTorrent App Studio, but was then removed.

"We've temporarily removed the µChat beta app for a quick bug fix," the BitTorrent blog said on Thursday afternoon. "We expect it to be re-posted in a few hours. Thank you very much for your patience."

UPDATE: As promised, the app was returned to availability within hours of its withdrawal, and is currently available for download.