Why do we have to choose Open source software?

faceoff97

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Quote from: mk4 on December 07, 2018, 11:47:21 AM

Quote from: faceoff97 on December 07, 2018, 11:30:28 AM

Im not sure about exodus since its not opensource unlike Hodler which provides private key, but will still consider.

Quote from: faceoff97 on December 07, 2018, 11:30:28 AM

Thank you for your response, if it happens that you make review about Hodler, just let me know.

Sorry but I'm really not planning on creating a review as I'm not really that skilled of a programmer in the first place.

That would be alright, the team told that they will be featured and publish in Bitcoin.org and Dash.org . It could be a way to gain trust from the community. Let's see where this wallet will be going, looks like the team is really serious and actively working for the development of the project.

shamc

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The problem with open source is that it leads to copy cat clones and forks, but without open source you will find malicious hidden programming where parts of your funds are shipped to someone else address

mk4

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Quote from: faceoff97 on December 07, 2018, 11:30:28 AM

Im not sure about exodus since its not opensource unlike Hidler which provides private key, but will still consider.

Exodus wallet is highly reputable in the space, and is partly open source. Also, Exodus also provides you with a private key. It will be provided once you deposit some funds to your wallet if I remember correctly.

Exodus website: https://www.exodus.io/
Exodus GitHub repository: https://github.com/ExodusMovement
Exodus subreddit(if you're planning on asking questions about it): https://www.reddit.com/r/ExodusWallet/

Quote from: faceoff97 on December 07, 2018, 11:30:28 AM

Thank you for your response, if it happens that you make review about Hodler, just let me know.

Sorry but I'm really not planning on creating a review as I'm not really that skilled of a programmer in the first place.

faceoff97

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Quote from: mk4 on December 07, 2018, 10:38:16 AM

Quote from: faceoff97 on December 07, 2018, 06:44:32 AM

Good that you mentioned this, someone also told me about trust wallet, recently it was found out to be using a security audit by a fake company and they market themselves as open source while in reality they have just pieces of old code on github and the android version is fully closed source (they even deleted their btalk thread when it was brought up). This time, through reading and finding good reviews about wallet, I came to know about Hodler wallet. So far, it works fine for me. It is also opensource and only multiwallet available. What do you think about it?

I'm not sure about trust wallet's security, but all I know that it's affiliated with Binance. So it somewhat has some reputation. I wouldn't risk it though.

I personally don't have an idea on that "hodler" wallet. For now, I would suggest sticking to the reputable wallets. I suggest trying out Exodus[1] if you're looking for a software wallet that can hold multiple cryptocurrencies.

If you're holding significant amounts of cryptocurrencies though(probably more than $1000 worth), I heavily suggest grabbing a hardware wallet like a Ledger Nano S[2] or a Trezor[3]. I can't stress this enough. Don't keep your huge amounts of crypto on a device that you frequently use online. Better safe than sorry.

[1] https://www.exodus.io/
[2] https://ledger.com/
[3] https://trezor.io/

About trust wallet, it was just shared by someone and really no idea what's the standing of this wallet. Meanwhile, Hodler Wallet is still a new app that's why you might not know it yet. I've read about their project in Steemit and looks like they are really working on developing a one of a kind wallet, also heard that they will introduce Hardware wallet this 2019. Im not sure about exodus since its not opensource unlike Hidler which provides private key, but will still consider. Thank you for your response, if it happens that you make review about Hodler, just let me know.

Robbie2334

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Quote from: faceoff97 on December 06, 2018, 01:17:18 AM

We know that holding Bitcoin is better when users have full control over their funds. What makes an open source software better? Is there any advantage on using it than using close source wallet.

:
which makes open source software better used in my opinion because it can be distributed freely.
The advantage is where the original program code (source code) can be seen or obtained to be developed
by ourselves while taking into account the rules that apply according to the software license, so we can manipulate the data according to our own needs.

mk4

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Quote from: faceoff97 on December 07, 2018, 06:44:32 AM

Good that you mentioned this, someone also told me about trust wallet, recently it was found out to be using a security audit by a fake company and they market themselves as open source while in reality they have just pieces of old code on github and the android version is fully closed source (they even deleted their btalk thread when it was brought up). This time, through reading and finding good reviews about wallet, I came to know about Hodler wallet. So far, it works fine for me. It is also opensource and only multiwallet available. What do you think about it?

I'm not sure about trust wallet's security, but all I know that it's affiliated with Binance. So it somewhat has some reputation. I wouldn't risk it though.

I personally don't have an idea on that "hodler" wallet. For now, I would suggest sticking to the reputable wallets. I suggest trying out Exodus[1] if you're looking for a software wallet that can hold multiple cryptocurrencies.

If you're holding significant amounts of cryptocurrencies though(probably more than $1000 worth), I heavily suggest grabbing a hardware wallet like a Ledger Nano S[2] or a Trezor[3]. I can't stress this enough. Don't keep your huge amounts of crypto on a device that you frequently use online. Better safe than sorry.

[1] https://www.exodus.io/
[2] https://ledger.com/
[3] https://trezor.io/

faceoff97

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Quote from: pooya87 on December 07, 2018, 12:11:30 AM

Quote from: mk4 on December 06, 2018, 10:26:35 PM

~
When talking about security though? Possibly. If a certain software is open-source then it means that people can freely audit the code, which is a decent advantage in my opinion.

just to emphasis: you shouldn't trust a project ONLY because it is open source and is published on GitHub. being open source means it "can" be audited but doesn't mean it is!
i have seen and reported at least 3 scam projects on GitHub in the past couple of years trying to infect people and steal their bitcoins. one of them was a fake Electrum which the scammer had edited the source code, included a malware and publishes the code on GitHub then advertised it everywhere as the new version (version 2.0 when real Electrum was on 1.9.8 and we know 2.0 was coming)!

Good that you mentioned this, someone also told me about trust wallet, recently it was found out to be using a security audit by a fake company and they market themselves as open source while in reality they have just pieces of old code on github and the android version is fully closed source (they even deleted their btalk thread when it was brought up). This time, through reading and finding good reviews about wallet, I came to know about Hodler wallet. So far, it works fine for me. It is also opensource and only multiwallet available. What do you think about it?

mk4

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Quote from: pooya87 on December 07, 2018, 12:11:30 AM

Quote from: mk4 on December 06, 2018, 10:26:35 PM

~
When talking about security though? Possibly. If a certain software is open-source then it means that people can freely audit the code, which is a decent advantage in my opinion.

just to emphasis: you shouldn't trust a project ONLY because it is open source and is published on GitHub. being open source means it "can" be audited but doesn't mean it is!
i have seen and reported at least 3 scam projects on GitHub in the past couple of years trying to infect people and steal their bitcoins. one of them was a fake Electrum which the scammer had edited the source code, included a malware and publishes the code on GitHub then advertised it everywhere as the new version (version 2.0 when real Electrum was on 1.9.8 and we know 2.0 was coming)!

Oh definitely. Certain software being open-source is definitely a huge good sign, but it doesn't automatically mean that the software is actually 100% safe and non-malicious. If you're planning on using an open-source software that's quite new and with the developers having little to no reputation in that certain industry, probably wait for people to review the codebase first, just to be sure.

Also while at the same time, a closed-source software doesn't automatically mean it's bad/malicious.

Thanks for clarifying!

pooya87

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Quote from: mk4 on December 06, 2018, 10:26:35 PM

~
When talking about security though? Possibly. If a certain software is open-source then it means that people can freely audit the code, which is a decent advantage in my opinion.

just to emphasis: you shouldn't trust a project ONLY because it is open source and is published on GitHub. being open source means it "can" be audited but doesn't mean it is!
i have seen and reported at least 3 scam projects on GitHub in the past couple of years trying to infect people and steal their bitcoins. one of them was a fake Electrum which the scammer had edited the source code, included a malware and publishes the code on GitHub then advertised it everywhere as the new version (version 2.0 when real Electrum was on 1.9.8 and we know 2.0 was coming)!

mk4

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Quote from: bitfocus on December 06, 2018, 11:03:40 AM

because open-source sometimes mean more privacy and more security together.

Not at all. Open-source means the codebase is public. How does that make it private?

When talking about security though? Possibly. If a certain software is open-source then it means that people can freely audit the code, which is a decent advantage in my opinion.

faceoff97

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Quote from: proTECH77 on December 06, 2018, 10:11:31 AM

Open source software as to me is preferably because i personally will verify the software to know it flaws and also follow others who's view i consider right. Close source software are not totally free from interruption from external bodies or third parties but open source is more of advantage to closed source. I stick to what i trust......

Great, thia gives me confirmation that opensource wallet is a better option. I'll keep my funds in my Hodler Waller since it looks like its the safest multiwallet available. Good to know that I have picked a good one, will also transfer to hardware once they release in the market. Thank you for your response.

bitfocus

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because open-source sometimes mean more privacy and more security together.

Oniko

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Open source shows the transparency of the project. Users of such resources will be able to trust the project. I think this is good for any project.

proTECH77

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Open source software as to me is preferably because i personally will verify the software to know it flaws and also follow others who's view i consider right. Close source software are not totally free from interruption from external bodies or third parties but open source is more of advantage to closed source. I stick to what i trust......

franky1

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Quote from: faceoff97 on December 06, 2018, 01:17:18 AM

We know that holding Bitcoin is better when users have full control over their funds. What makes an open source software better? Is there any advantage on using it than using close source wallet.

imagine a situation whereby you open a wallet and it has automatically created payment addresses for you to receive funds.
how would you know that the code behind it is simply a list of made addresses by the developers that have a copy of the keys.

in closed source wallets you wont know.
......until one day your funds go missing.
in open source you can check the code and see if the address generation is genuinely random, created from within the software locally on only your computer, to a high standard that in a billion years of maybe creating 1000 keypairs a second no 2 addresses would be the same.

seoincorporation

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Quote from: faceoff97 on December 06, 2018, 01:17:18 AM

We know that holding Bitcoin is better when users have full control over their funds. What makes an open source software better? Is there any advantage on using it than using close source wallet.

The software can be always tricked, i mean if we talk about wallets, if you go with a close source wallet provider what warrants you that he isn't saving a copy of your privatekeys in their DB... Another problem about closed source project is the security, you can't know if your provider is hashing passwords before saving them, and other security stuff. But with open source projects this doesn't happen because since users have access to the code, users can be sure if the provider is saving our information, and if he is managing security by the right way.

In other words, if bitcoin were a closed source project it would never have success because no one would trust on the project.

faceoff97

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Quote from: 20kevin20 on December 06, 2018, 07:17:53 AM

If Bitcoin was not open-source, we would've only gotten updates from Satoshi himself who would've been the owner of BTC's code (and for open-source projects, you don't have an owner), because we wouldn't be able to update the code and add new stuff to it or fix problems.

We also had to trust Satoshi because open-source means anyone can read & modify it. If it was closed-source, we didn't have the possibility to review the code lines through which BTC was created.

A good comparison is using the BTC Core wallet and the Blockchain.com one. You have no control over the Blockchain.com wallet, you have to trust the company itself. The company can add any lines at any time to block you from using specific features, or to even take your money away. With BTC Core, you can see any update but it doesn't mean you can trust it. But because we have so many programmers coding on BTC, we would be notified in case there is a suspicion regarding the new lines that have been added to it.

Great, I've also learned that using opensource wallet keeps user away from potential vulnerability of funds since you they no longer be able to fully verify the safety of your money, and you rely on someone else to keep it safe. This is why even like me newbie who don't know how yo read code just being aware that at any time the code is there in the open for experts to audit it can make me more secure of my funds. Now getting the point why opensource is important.

20kevin20

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If Bitcoin was not open-source, we would've only gotten updates from Satoshi himself who would've been the owner of BTC's code (and for open-source projects, you don't have an owner), because we wouldn't be able to update the code and add new stuff to it or fix problems.

We also had to trust Satoshi because open-source means anyone can read & modify it. If it was closed-source, we didn't have the possibility to review the code lines through which BTC was created.

A good comparison is using the BTC Core wallet and the Blockchain.com one. You have no control over the Blockchain.com wallet, you have to trust the company itself. The company can add any lines at any time to block you from using specific features, or to even take your money away. With BTC Core, you can see any update but it doesn't mean you can trust it. But because we have so many programmers coding on BTC, we would be notified in case there is a suspicion regarding the new lines that have been added to it.

faceoff97

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Quote from: dothebeats on December 06, 2018, 06:26:01 AM

Anyone can review the code, no one can take ownership of the said code and anyone can add something to it, pass it on for the community to review and hopefully move forward with the new addition should it prove to improve the original existing code. It's not that we are forced to use open-source software, but the idea of bitcoin is to free us from centralization, and closed-source software is one way to start.

Oh and it's cheap, too. No legal problems tied with it and great minds can help without having to pay them!

Thank you for your response. Great, I also found an article made by Hodler wallet which is the only opensource multiwallet saying this: "Open Source also gives you the ability to compile your software wallet from the source code – it’s not complicated and it allows you to be sure that you weren’t tricked by a malicious website into downloading a compromised application." I'm now getting the idea of why opensource should be used, since I'm a newbie knowing this thing is really a big help.

dothebeats

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Anyone can review the code, no one can take ownership of the said code and anyone can add something to it, pass it on for the community to review and hopefully move forward with the new addition should it prove to improve the original existing code. It's not that we are forced to use open-source software, but the idea of bitcoin is to free us from centralization, and closed-source software is one way to start.

Oh and it's cheap, too. No legal problems tied with it and great minds can help without having to pay them!

Topic: Why do we have to choose Open source software? (Read 373 times)