Topic: The Holy Grail! I wish I could kiss the author of Bitmessage on his face. - page 3. (Read 92719 times)

Actually this project has been worked on continually, even up until today, as you can see in the commit history:

https://github.com/Open-Transactions/Moneychanger/commits/develop

We have a lot of new features added, and an announcement is overdue. For example, Namecoin and Bitmessage have been integrated. I've been in the middle of a move to Switzerland, and busy with the Bitmessage integration, so I want to get that tested up and make a new video before I post a big update here to this thread.

As for the funds, they are still all there, I just moved them to a separate address out of concern for security. The amount was sitting on my desktop and was making me nervous, so I moved it to a paper wallet.

Pls just leave the project on CIYAM for now, and soon I will get in there and update the CIYAM page. Lots of the sub-bounties can be closed and paid out, and I will slip in new addresses for the bounties that remain, so the funds can be visible again. Lots of progress going on lately!

http://ciyam.org/open/?cmd=view&data=20130606055250338000&ident=M100V137&chksum=a2a9d6d5

It appears that all the funds have been removed and *nothing has happened with this project for months*.

So unless I am led to believe otherwise then I will be closing it off at the end of this week.

Thanks. Are the slides he was using available anywhere?

Here is Chris Odom aka Fellow Traveler, speaking at Miami Bitcoin conference, some people may find it useful. Enjoy!

Thanks to "Let's Talk Bitcoin!" for great audio.
 
https://soundcloud.com/mindtomatter/miami-2014-chris-odom-on-1?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheDailyBitcoinShow+%28Let%27s+Talk+Bitcoin%21%29

I will probably never say that OT is "ready for prime time" since, working in crypto-systems, I am extremely conservative and paranoid.

We've done a lot of testing over the past four years, but I want to do more. We've done some static/dynamic analysis, but I want to do more. We've had the code open-source for years, but I still want to pay experts to audit the code. Monetas is starting on some QA but that will be an ongoing process.

We are just now getting to the point where the Desktop app is usable, and even then we need install programs before normal users can access it. (I've been testing an install of the Mac version, but don't have an install ready yet for Windows/Linux.)

If you want to start playing with it, there's a bit of a learning curve on the server side. The first thing I would do is get a Mac or Linux system and then build OT on it:
http://github.com/Open-Transactions/Open-Transactions

Once you have it built, I would copy the sample data over:

mkdir ~/.ot
cp -R Open-Transactions/sample-data/ot-sample-data/* ~/.ot

Then you can start the server: otserver

Then you can use the command-line client. You can also use the desktop client if you want to build it:
http://github.com/Open-Transactions/Moneychanger

I have a Mac install of that desktop client, and some testers have access to it, though we will make it more accessible to others soon. We still need to make install programs for Windows/Linux but it shouldn't be too hard.

Once you are comfortable using OT with the sample data, the next step would be to create your own server contract. To get started doing that, just erase the sample data and run otserver with no data. It should walk you through the process of setting up your own server (it's no picnic.)

Am I correct in understanding that MC is dependent on OT? If so is OT ready for prime time, can anyone set up an OT server?  Where would one start if they wanted to try? What sort of hardware would be required?

Newbie questions, I know, but I need to start somewhere.    How does a newbie like myself make a positive contribution, or do I just sit and wait.

BTW, I'm nobody's Grandmother, but I am a Grandfather. I would be more than happy to be a usability guinea pig, should someone need one. 

Good point...

that means that there should be something allowing to commercialize the product, in certain way... so it can be pushed... What about having a small commission in moneychanger? For example, if commission can be set in moneychanger to work on certain (commercial) OT server, than those who would like to run this commercial OT server might be interested to invest into faster development? Am I missing something?

Not really, it is dependent upon volunteers and bounty donations ... and to be honest help is pretty thin on the ground with so much money hovering up talent in the crypto space, there are not that many free agents left out there ... for coding, building, packaging, testing ....

Is there an estimate when moneychanger will be released to the masses?

Wow, how did I miss this?!

Still trying to understand properly it but I think I get the gist. Exciting stuff.

well done fellow traveler!
i am amazed by your work!
this is the future!!!

There are also some example simple web client wallet projects ... but nothing fully polished yet.

e.g.
https://github.com/stretch/otweb

Of course, just need to know that this possible...

You'd have to write all that code yourself, AFAIK.

Thank you for the explanation, now it is much clearer.
Ok, the issue with receipt is not a problem as far as we aren't talking about USA, even more, if not operated anonymously, it can be operated under certain bank/exchange license, I already have some legal solution...
Now another question. Is it possible to use OT server as a core server (through API?) with mtGox like interface for customers, until moneychanger is realeased or just for those customers who don't want to download it?

Only for US-based customers ... the servers can be operated in any jurisdiction at all, or in the cloud with multiple parallel instances making it impossible to know which server is performing the notary function. The issuers could also be based in any jurisdiction, or perhaps even as pseudoonymous entity operating on anonymous network like Tor, I2P, Freenet, etc.

Meaning you'd need money transmitter licensing for every State (in which you have customers)?

If you're operating a service that accepts customer deposits, then you can issue OT receipts for those deposits instead of just making database entries in your own system. You technically don't actually need to run your own server for that - you can theoretically use any OT server.

The advantages of doing this from the perspective of your customers is that it means that you won't have the ability to arbitrarily change their balance, they will will have cryptographic proof of how much you owe them, and they can trade their balances like currency.

The disadvantages are that the customers will need to install Moneychanger (or some other suitable OT client) to use your service and Moneychanger isn't finished yet. Also the features that OT receipts provide which your customers will like probably aren't legal to give them when you're issuing receipts for USD.

I just want to understand, if I setup OT server, can it handle MTGox like operation, where there is no actual website for exchange, but OT server with end users using software from their computers... for the simplicity, lets say the service would offer only BTC/USD exchange service on the beginning and lets say we offer an option to actually deposit money the very same way as mtGox (wire transfer etc), is it possible to create such a virtual exchange with deposit option? The thing is that the average Joe needs it to be as simple as possible and the very first thing he needs an ability to have those "assets" in his own wallet, in our case $USD for the beginning... to start rolling...