So Josh just told me about myfabrik.com. It's a neat concept - free online storage in exchange for the requirement that everything's public. It's a great way both to trade information at a higher speed and settle on standards (as people will be using the same versions of files, just like source repositories) (note to self: write about how faster exchange might equal accepting more standards).
I said, "so, clearly, you can't upload copyrighted material..."
The first thought that came to my mind was to create an online directory of people who were willing to trade files over myfabrik and you agree on a time to trade, then take the files down because leaving them up would leave them likely to being happened upon.
Then, I said, " you could have a program that searches the directory, negotiates a time with the other party, then automatically uploads, downloads, deletes.
Josh says, "and instead of 'torrents' they'd be called 'stitches'. I can see the program icon now!"
But why create it? I mean, there's no profit in it, and why is it better than torrents? It's like the laserdisc or the SACD - yeah, they're better, but they're not revolutionary.