On Friday, March 6th, we received user feedback about an optional partner offer to our users to install software from Epic Scale. On that same day, we suspended this offer. We’ve concluded after further review that this suspension will be permanent.
We came to this conclusion based on negative user reaction to this offer. We acknowledge again that we misjudged how this offer would be received, and we apologize to users who have objected to it or who had trouble uninstalling that software. We understand this has already eroded some users’ trust in μTorrent.
So what comes next? Specifically:
- Permanent Suspension of the Epic Scale Partner Offer. While we reiterate our belief and support in their charitable mission, this is clearly something you should discover on your own and participate in directly with Epic Scale. If you’d like to learn more, we’d encourage you to visit their website.
- A commitment to continue our quest for improving how we fund the costs associated with the distribution of our free software and our other projects and innovations.
On the second item, many of you wrote with understanding that providing free software and services to users costs money, whether it’s services such as Google and Facebook, or downloadable software like ours. Many understand the common downloadable software model which we, and most free software companies, have followed for years.
Although Epic Scale is an exception, we’ve managed this model without significant negative feedback for a long time. Nonetheless, some of you may know that we, like many other downloadable software companies, are in search of new and better ways to fund our product costs. You will see these different ways emerge in the coming months, including better and more premium offerings such as the new Pro version with content streaming. We will keep everyone posted on these developments.
Meanwhile, some logistics:
As mentioned, Epic Scale has already been permanently suspended on all versions including current μTorrent 3.4.2 and BitTorrent 7.9.2. A new release, μTorrent 3.4.3, and BitTorrent 7.9.3, is scheduled to come out in the next two weeks. This new release is in part to make it easy for our users to identify which version of μTorrent to pursue. It is important to note that if you are not downloading μTorrent software directly from us, that some third party distributors may have the older version with the Epic Scale offer.
As a closing note, we can’t express enough how important our community is to us. And further, how seriously we take all of the feedback we receive. We’ve worked hard over the years to meet expectations and deliver quality software. We thank all of those who have remained loyal; we ask you to stay with us as we work hard to prove we can continue to innovate and meet your expectations.
