Microsoft Secure Content Distribution (MSCD) is off the face of the Earth

I've finally been overtaken by the urge to experience Visual Studio 2008, most for the benefit of experimenting with the upcoming ASP.net MVC framework which gets me very very excited these days.

Sadly, as most of you know, the download is in the 3 to GB range and FireFox's built-in download manager is (surprisingly) not up to the task.

I remembered that someone mentioned something about a new P2P downloading tool from Microsoft that was the fastest and surest way of downloading large files from Microsoft.

That someone was Yaniv Feldman and the tool he wrote about was Microsoft Secure Content Distribution (MCSD). It is a P2P download client based on Microsoft Research's Avalanche project. Avalanche is (was?) an attempt at P2P data transfer, much like the popular BitTorrent. When MCSD was announced in July 2007, it even sparked a response from BitTorrent's creator who claimed faults in the protocol make it inferior when compared with BT.

My confused shifting between past and present tense in writing about MCSD comes from the fact that I have been unable to get my hands on it. Despite making some splash when it first hit the waters, MCSD has disappeared underwater - every single link I followed to get a copy of it is now a dead end. It's not available for download any more.

This (old) news story from Microsoft Research explains that MCSD was only available for a time-limited test between July 27 and August 22, 2007. The test is over and MCSD is gone. All that is left is the Avalanche project page above.

I hope MCSD was not an entire failure. The core idea is excellent - P2P downloads are clearly the best way to distribute software. Does anybody what fate this project has met in the depth of the "abyss"
that is Microsoft Research?

And what download manager would you recommend for me to download the Visual Studio 2008 trial software with?