Metalink support for downloads
 

As Omniweb already have a very reliable download manager, it would be great to get Metalink support for downloads.

In fact you can use that technology in Omni Software update right now which allows you to put all mirrors to single link (internally).

Metalink is open source (not GPL! doesn't require opening source), documented and has support from every kind of vendor recently. The possibilities are almost endless.

[url]http://www.metalinker.org/[/url]

Features written in better english than mine ;)
"Standard format for listing multiple mirrors for redundancy and/or automatic accelerated (segmented) downloads.
Combines FTP and HTTP with Peer-to-peer (P2P, shared bandwidth).
Simplifies advanced download features, layout, and user experience.
Automatic checksum verification; No separate MD5/SHA-1 file or manual process for integrity verification.
Automatic error recovery and repair of corrupted downloads.
No Single Point of Failure (SPOF) like FTP or HTTP URLs. More fault tolerant.
Stores more descriptive and useful information for software distribution.
Automatic load balancing distributes traffic so individual servers are under less strain.
No long confusing list of possibly outdated Mirrors and P2P links.
Automated creating, editing, and validating is easy with standard text processing tools.
In a format browsers and other tools can already process (even if they might not make use of it yet).
Makes the download process simpler for users (automatic selection of language, Operating System, location, etc).
Uniquely identifies files, so even if all references to it in the Metalink stop working, the same exact file can be found in other places.
Share a library of files between filesharing applications with a small .metalink.
Congratulations, you're the first person to read this far.
Can finish P2P downloads even if files are no longer shared.
For FTP/HTTP, an updated client is needed, but not a separate client like some types of P2P.
NO changes or separate services needed on the server side, like a "tracker" etc. Users can create Metalinks for files anyone is hosting and share them.
Useful for automatic updating programs when new versions are released.
List accurate file sizes, which are sometimes misreported by older servers (files greater than 2 gigabytes)."

The current list of supporting clients
[url]http://www.metalinker.org/implementation.html[/url]

Metalink is an XML format, and you can choose which information you'd want to use for downloads, from the multiple URLs to checksums & other metadata.