I was just looking at the Ethereum thread, and was wondering: couldn't NXT technically implement what Ethereum is trying to do in a parallel blockchain that allows turing-complete code to execute? IMO Ethereum is interesting, but isn't particularly innovative (not in the way transparent forging is).
A few advantages I see if this is possible within the NXT ecosystem:
1) NXT is already established. No need for massive development of the network, and thus no need for an expensive, over-complicated IPO to get it off the ground.
2) These scripts can interact with other aspects of the NXT ecosystem, which is admittedly much larger in scope than Ethereum will ever be. For example, you can send 0.00001 NXT to "Asset Merchant Rating" script, and you can rate a merchant you had a pleasant/negative experience with, and the program will keep track of it on the parallel blockchain without the bloat that may come if we used AM for this purpose.
3) Take advantage of all the idling CPU power in most nodes. Since NXT client itself does not require much resources to run, perhaps this will give all the miners from PoW-world something to focus on.
4) Provide an increase fees for people willing to participate in the parallel blockchain. People with RPi's can just stick to basic forging, while those running nodes on powerful PC's can additionally use their CPU power to run these programs.
5) NXT has already set the precedent for decentralized development (something I'm rather proud of, and I have to hand it to BCNext, that was a very smart decision), so people making a decentralized effort to create decentralized programs fits the theme rather well.
What's left is to figure out how to integrate a PoW system within a PoS system. But since c-f-b is already working on that, I assume it can be done.
sure, nxt will have the first DNA[1] latest end next month. while others talking we are coding.
DNA can also communicate with other DNA's via DNL[2], asking for additional functions and can
access external resources on demand while sandboxed and configurable to it's own special needs.
AM can be used as a direct DNA storage if the size fit's or chunk itself and recombine if
larger or even running on trusted nodes as a monolithical, remote executable code block.
client can scan AM for DNA resources or fetch the DNA directory from nodes via DNS[3] call
to get the latest jump and recombination list. DNAs can handle also thier own account, polling
the transactions and balance to verify service payments on activation.
[1] decentralized nxt agent
[2] decentralized nxt logic (repository of pure function fragments, e.g api repo to access online quotes)
[3] decentralized nxt services