shredfvz
I'd like to see Runit [1] and S6 [2] get more attention.
Docs and easy-to-apply tutorials would be a godsend in this area. I too really want to replace systemd on Arch. Currently, this is an uphill battle due to so many packages having systemd service files, and the fact that I've never replaced an init system before makes things that much more daunting.
If only there were more information out there, or more ready-made solutions [3], I'm sure there are plenty who would be ready and willing to give this a shot.
2: http://www.skarnet.org/software/s6/
A pays B (A now owes taxes on realized gains)
B pays C (B now owes taxes on realized gains)
C pays D (C now owes taxes on realized gains)
However, as a commodity with limited supply, BTC may still be a good store of value.
Basically what you guys need to realize is Bitcoin only makes sense when you completely disregard "the system". If nobody pays any taxes, nobody does AML/KYC, and everybody uses BTC ubiquitously, then yes, it's a cheaper and more efficient system. What irks me to no end as a proponent of Bitcoin is how many people are into Bitcoin nowadays purely as a get-rich-quick scheme or because it's en vogue. There are real, significant societal conversations that need to be had on a massive scale before Bitcoin makes sense for the average person, and most people just aren't willing to bring that conversation to the forefront. Too busy raising VC.
Facebook's market cap is $63,000,000,000. If the market cap of Bitcoin were just 10% of Facebook, each Bitcoin would be worth about $500. 1% and it's about $50. Can a global financial system conceivably give the world just 10% of the value of Facebook? Because just ten percent ... and one BTC is $500.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5398140
I couldn't have possibly imagined that Bitcoin would soar so quickly. In all honesty, the infrastructure has NOT improved noticeably over the last 6 months. This runup in price was fueled by shameless speculation, or possibly the Chinese seeking to evade capital controls. I've followed the Bitcoin market closely since the time I made that post, and what you'll notice is the price moves up considerable amounts based on miniscule volume. Liquidity is dire.
I would advise very cautious optimism if not pessimism at this point. Is Bitcoin worth really 20% of Facebook right now? That's a tough question, especially considering the open regulatory question in America, which I personally don't see doing so hot.
I think Bitcoin was a fantastic, visionary buy at $10-$50 back when nobody was taking it seriously, and I enthusiastically stated as much to everyone who would listen. However, at this point I'm telling people they've missed the boat. There's still plenty of value in Bitcoin, don't get me wrong. It's just that this run up was 100% speculative, and based on people hoarding coins because the price was going up. Not the sign of a healthy foundation.
If your marketing isn't helping you overcome objections, you need better marketing, because your marketing isn't selling.
You can sort through tens of thousands of existing PKGBUILDs on the AUR [1], which typically makes it quick and easy to start packaging software for Arch. You can even sync a flat text file database of all official Arch packages with abs [2]. The ability to reverse engineer every PKGBUILD for a wide variety of software is a major plus in my book.
Writing a PKGBUILD takes roughly the same effort as compiling software from source with a bash script. PKGBUILDs are simple to write, and there's just enough "magic" in Pacman to keep things sane.
Nine times out of ten, the PKGBUILD writing process boils down to copy/pasting directions from README or INSTALL files. It's like a bash script, except more 'done-for-you'. Finding exact dependencies is typically a cinch with the AUR and tools like packer.
Maintaining a rolling distro can be a labor of love, but if you love the system, you'll find it may significantly increase your overall sanity. It's another way of doing things, but I consider choice of distro to be one of the more important decisions to make, and IME, Arch has been such a significant departure from other distros that not trying it in a serious capacity is roughly equivalent to not trying Vim / Emacs ever in your career. Which is to say, I think it's a mistake not to at least see what it may offer you, especially if you're in any doubt.
I hope my positivity is only seen as that: positivity, and not overzealous dedication to one specific toolset. Arch probably isn't a panacea, nor will I claim that it's a perfect fit for your way of doing things. But I have never found something as pleasant as Pacman to work with. In addition, I never would've even tried Arch if I hadn't been slightly flustered by the seemingly irrational exuberance random sysadmins displayed for the system.
At first I agreed with you, but on a broader basis your sentiment just doesn't match up with reality.
Real contracts are created with verifiable blockchain-based timestamping.
Debt is issued with colored coins.
Ripple attempts to do something like this but I feel it must be done natively on the blockchain to see widespread acceptance.
Python programmers wanted. Send a BitMessage to BM-oq7iLGGH7e7JJaqiTcUj1qGQYxeZVo65b; IM [email protected] or join #zyocoin on Freenode.
Listen, there's just not going to be scientific proof behind a mostly illegal substance with legions of powerful people incentivized to stop it from growing in popularity. Feel free to evaluate the video testimonials though: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwBs_ihArc1lCYDym-DH4...
Bitcoin shares many similarities with hemp oil, you can always tell the armchair opinions from the guys who actually use it.
If I only knew him, I'd make it my mission in life to get Hal some Rick Simpson oil.
If you lacked the vision, the luck, the timeliness, etc. of an early adopter, fair's fair. Pay them their respects. I still kick myself for not having my wits about me when I first heard about Bitcoin.
As for your alternative, I don't see why not. You could create a clone of Bitcoin today, why not do it yourself? They did that with Litecoin, too. In fact the author of Litecoin created it because he felt "wronged" the same way you do now. He felt as if too many people missed the boat with Bitcoin, and clearly people should have a second chance of early adopting such a revolutionary concept.
I don't feel the same way.
Everyone had the chance to mine in the earliest of days, that's certainly true for me and I sometimes kick myself about it. Hindsight is 20/20.
I don't think it's right to get on the case of the earliest bunch though for not being more egalitarian. How could Satoshi have been more fair to you? After all, nearly everybody had the short-lived opportunity to mine 50 BTC blocks with ease. Clearly Satoshi believed in his concept more than most of us did, and deemed it worthy of putting in lots of effort into mining. He did his part to warn the world of his invention. Fair's fair.
I continue to watch the Wall Street bubble unfold, fascinated, popcorn at the ready. In the end it'll be like sending herds of cattle through a cheese grater.
Can a global financial system conceivably give the world just 10% of the value of Facebook? Because just ten percent ... and one BTC is $500.
Oh, but clearly society demands Farmville, you say? Clearly we don't need a new financial system ... more than we need to know who Joe Bob hooked up with this weekend.
As if there's no pain being solved here by Bitcoin. As if there are no problems with USD or the EUR. As if Cypriots are just pissed off over spilled milk right now. After all it's only a "haircut".
It's so funny to see how most people on HN are here to make businesses that scale infinitely. What could possibly, POSSIBLY, scale faster and more widely than an open source global currency? The price increase in the last month represents a trickle of people around the globe exchanging fiat for BTC. Just a trickle. Whereas most people are obviously hesitant to invest. That would include most people on HN.
The supply of Bitcoin is ridiculously tiny. Only 11,000,000 in total are in circulation today, let alone available for purchase on the market.
Sellers wanted. I acquired enough BTC to make me happy without being over the top - and I'm not ever exchanging it back into any other ass backwards asset class, gold and silver (and USD) included. Early adopters of BTC are from what I can tell mostly the same way, if crazier than I am.
Bitcoin is valuable because the world desperately needs to escape the current financial system. Individual sovereignty and financial privacy are the most scarce resources on the planet, bar none. It's not too late to acquire BTC, put it in a brainwallet and carry around $10k at all times. Now let's all go back to flinging monkey poop at consumers over the Internet.
Looks like an interesting piece of software nonetheless.
These factors substantially reduce the cost of selling goods and services with Bitcoin.
Recall that early adopters of questionable loyalty to BTC already had a chance, or two or three, to cash out at very favorable rates. Many did. The result is Bitcoins continue to drift into stronger and more loyal hands. Meaning, as time passes it grows less and less likely for there to be ANY event capable of destroying confidence in the markets. If you get into BTC at this point, you should know fully well what the risks are.
FYI: "Legal tender is currency that cannot legally be refused in payment of debt. Private businesses may adopt their own policies on whether or not to accept cash as long it doesn't violate state law."
So when you say this: "all governments and businesses can not refuse to be paid in dollars"
You've misinterpretted the law.
And when you say this: "Thus, if you try to pay me in Bitcoins in return for mowing your lawn, I can laugh in your face, but I can't refuse your dollars and demand that you pay me in Bitcoin."
head asplode!
This is just utterly mind boggling. In what world does a service provider HAVE to accept whatever payment terms the customer demands of him, even if the customer demands something the service provider never agreed to in the first place? If I'm a business, and I tell you I'll provide X service for you, but only if you agree to pay me in BTC, and then you turn around after I'm done and say "HAHA J/K LOL here's some USD", I have every right to tell YOU to fuck right off.
"as long as it remains illegal to pay salaries in Bitcoin"
Talk about painful levels of ignorance. I would love to see you try to substantiate this utter falsehood.
"because I can be 100% certain that I can buy the things that I want in dollars"
Let's revisit this sentiment in 25 years.
Whenever the BTC price moves up or down, do you honestly believe "It's those blasted early adopters, at it again I tell you"
You also appear to assume, incorrectly, that early adopters are just itching to exchange out into fiat currencies, as if their eyes are glued to their computer monitors, just waiting for their lucky day to "cash out BIG" ... into fiat currency. Hmmmm
This goes without saying. As with PM investors, many Bitcoin holders see real issues with fiat currency, specifically that banks are a terrible place to put your life savings.
Regrettably, it's still super common for people to turn up their noses in disgust, claiming "Bitcoin Boogey Man, oh noezzz"!
I'm sorry, does the USD somehow not come with a Boogey Man? Because last I checked HSBC was caught with their pants down directly funding terrorism through shady business practices, Bernie Madoff is still in prison for running a giant Ponzi, the illegal narcotics trade is done mostly in USD, plus you have money laundering, and just about every crime conceivable being carried out in USD.
But wait, the Bitcoin Boogeyman!!!
Everyone come to look!
The USD is dirtier than Bitcoin by several orders of magnitude. It's been taking a full out mudbath every day of its life for the past several decades. It's just that the USD is all people know, so they assume it's squeaky clean, because how could it not be squeaky clean??
end of story, right?
What the hell am I looking at right now, seriously?
Your idea has merit, but I truly didn't understand what your site did or offered until I scrolled down to your second headline. That is typically a death sentence for most online sales rhetoric.
This to me highlights just about everything there is to know about Bitcoin. People are too easily turned off by the amount of effort it takes to properly command a Bitcoin wallet. At least with the traditional banking system, a big bank is there to lend you a hand should you need anything or should something go wrong with one of your transactions.
But there's a big tradeoff: when you utilize the traditional banking system, you must entrust at least some of your wealth to an entity you have absolutely zero control over.
Right now that's fine, but personally I like the idea of keeping external dependencies to a minimum, especially when it comes to money.
The price of Bitcoin remains affordable for now, and will continue to do so as long as people don't have a compelling reason to get off their behinds. For some perspective, the Bitcoin market cap is $332M. At a $1000M ($1B) market cap and ~12.8M BTC in circulation, the price per Bitcoin would be roughly $78. At a $10B market cap it would be $780. The market cap of Facebook is $68.7B. When you compare a global financial system with censorship resistant properties (Bitcoin), and give it a valuation six times less than a global social network (Facebook), 1 BTC is still worth $780. If Bitcoin is 60X less valuable to the world than Facebook, it's $78/coin. 120X less valuable and it's $39/coin. Meaning if Bitcoin truly provides the world less than 1% of the value of Facebook then it's still undervalued at $30.
IMO the world is practically crying out for an alternative financial system free from high risk banking, but I digress. Average people will not actively seek any competing financial system Bitcoin included until they have a compelling motivation eating away at them 24/7. There are scenarios which could create those circumstances, but they're long shots that hinge upon various social, economic and political factors at some vague point in the distant future. I can at least see Bitcoin having a $1B market cap for now, but for BTC to really come into its own, average people will need to get off their behinds. In other words, don't count on it.
Still the market cap of Apple is $450+ billion, and I'd like to think a global Internet currency/financial system is worth at least 10% of that to our society.
When mom and pop businesses launch a Web marketing effort, they often have little appreciation for, let alone a rudimentary understanding of the Internet, and just in general have NO IDEA what they're dealing with. And yet they'll happily launch their business into a jungle full of rabies-infected cannibals, without so much as a guide. Why? Because the brochure said it was all sunshine and rainbows.
If you don't run the numbers beforehand, don't do a group buy offer. And please, don't blame Groupon for your own actions if running a daily deal wasn't the right choice for your business. It's risky indeed to run a daily deal, especially when you're selling a commoditized product in a big market with dozens of entrants all vying for limited regional traffic. Your average customer lifetime value probably won't be high enough to justify a 70+% hit to front end revenue, assuming repeat business is rare and loyalty is low.
What you're doing with a daily deal is similar to running a free trial offer for a consumer good that converts to a $10/mo paying customer for 3.5 months, 2% of the time. In this scenario, giving up any amount over $2.00 on the front end per customer is the equivalent to lighting your money on fire. For context, the most successful marketers online wouldn't attempt anything approaching that without a fully built back end sales funnel, probably with a call center and thoroughly tested followup method. And yet the owner of Daisy's Ice Cream Scoops thinks she can somehow make it work with her homemade strawberry sherbet.
Yet, many anti-groupon commentators would have you believe daily deals are objectively worthless to any and all other businesses. This is not particularly directed at the OP, but for the love of all that is holy, Do Your Due Diligence. The daily deal promotion is merely another promotional tool at your disposal in a free market, and if you shoot yourself in the foot with it, you have no one to blame but yourself.
LivingSocial AFAIK had deep roots in CPA and online advertising. You see people criticising CPA as seedy all the time, but the fact is the online advertising giants know what makes people buy, and they do it over and over, and over again. They live and breathe direct marketing like it's a requirement for survival in the industry, because it is. That expertise does not, however, mean you stick your neck out for your customers, or even pretend to care about your business partners. Too often in the online advertising industry are immediate profits sought above all else, with reputation and honesty being tossed aside sometimes. I'm not privy to any of LivingSocial's financials or business practices, but it really wouldn't be that surprising if they had trucked over everyone and made off like bandits. Hopefully they're smart enough to run a sustainable business.