I don't know exactly Open Transactions, but if it requires something like signing documents with PGP, then it is both
1) quite scary the first time you see it
2) easy, after you spend 5 minutes figuring it out with a good howto.
Maybe, having money to recover is just what it takes to push people to make that little mental effort, and move in the realm of serious security at once; so, a great opportunity
The user does not directly do any PGP-signing.
If you are using the OT wallet, then
it will be signing things behind the scenes, but you will not see this.
The most you will see is, it will occasionally ask for your passphrase so that it can sign something.
is there a way to program OT in a way that the "notary" part would be commonly shared similar to a blockchain. Basicaly i wanna know if OT is capable to run decentralized.
You can issue the same currency onto multiple OT servers.
But each instrument must be redeemed on the same server where it was issued.
You can also move funds between servers (by going through any entity who has accounts on both servers, such as the issuer.)
There is also a plan to use multisig for placing BTC in voting pools (on the blockchain itself) so that individual servers cannot steal the coins that have been bailed onto them. (Nor could hackers...)
Yeah, move to Exchange X. After they rob you, move again.
How many times do you have to get scammed before you wise up?
It is not possible for an OT server to rob you.
After every transaction, the most recent receipt is left on your machine.
This receipt proves your current balance, as well as which instruments are valid, and which transactions are closed. It proves everything.
The server cannot change anything on this receipt (or the next...), because the server cannot forge your signature on the original request. (A copy of your original signed request appears on the server-signed receipt.)
This means that "your account" is on your machine. So
even if the server later disappears, you can still prove the balance on your account, and prove which instruments are still valid.
I like the idea of an Open Exchange. Does that software exists already? If yes, where I can look for more info and downloads?
Open-Transactions is able to act as a market exchange (similar to MtGox or GLBSE.)
However OT does a lot more than that. You can make your own custom-scripted smart contracts, and it will execute the terms of your scripted agreements, dropping receipts periodically into your inbox.
OT also does untraceable cash.
OT also does client-side scripting, with the full OT API available inside the scripts.
OT is also able to prove everything it needs to prove, without storing any account history (as long as you store the
last signed receipt...)OT also supports a wide range of financial instruments. Not only can you issue currencies/shares and trade them, but you can also open accounts, write cheques, withdraw cash, use cashier's cheques (aka banker's cheques), send account transfers, etc.
Sounds like OT is the rough equivalent of what would happen if I open sourced LTC-GLOBAL and built in a cross-site trading module?
Probably. OT is able to act as a market exchange, if that's what you mean. But it is only the core: the library, the receipts, the instruments, the keys, etc.
Meaning if you have a website in mind, you still have to build the website part. OT just processes all the finance and legal.
It has potential to become a good alternative but at the moment it takes some serious effort to get it up and running. Documentation how to actually use it is nonexisting.
Getting the client (and server) running needs a good step-by-step How To.
===> The actual compiling / linking of the project is not something that actual users will have to deal with (only developers.)
===> Installing the software (and various libraries) on your machine is also not something that actual users will have to deal with (there will be an install script that will automate this for users.)
===> There is not an actual GUI client yet. We
do have a test GUI, as well as a command-line utility (opentxs) but I assume that some
real client will be written before there are real users. In fact my company Monetas has already started raising our seed round, and we intend to produce a real client over the next year or so.
===> If you copy over the sample data when you first install OT, then you will see that you are able to run the OT server
and the test GUI without having to set up any contracts or Nyms at all. You can just start playing with it.
===> If you start up the OT server with no data, it will walk you through the process of creating the necessary Nyms and contracts to get it up and running from scratch.
===> If you start up the OT client with no data (such as the test GUI) then it will automatically create its own blank data folder. From there you can create your first Nym yourself (on the Nyms tab) and import any server contracts or asset contracts that you wish to use, into your wallet. (On the contracts tab.) From there you can go to the Main tab and create accounts (in those asset types, on those servers.)
===> A real GUI would lead you through that initial setup process (including the password image) using a
Wizard. The test GUI, obviously, does not.