Re: [Bitcoin-development] Roadmap to getting users onto SPV clients

[Mark Friedenbach <mark@monetize.io>]

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Alan's UTxO meta-chain proposal becomes vastly easier to do now that
ultraprune is merged. That would allow the Satoshi client to know it's
wallet balance and operate with a >=SPV level of security during the
initial block download, and keep them on the path of becoming a full node.
If users can see their balances, send and receive transactions, and
otherwise go about their business (except for mining) during the initial
block download, would that not address your concerns?

IMHO the only time bitcoin.org should recommend a SPV-only client is when
it is dynamically when it is being accessed from a mobile device, but
that's a separate issue.

Mark


On Tue, Dec 4, 2012 at 9:46 AM, Mike Hearn <mike@plan99.net> wrote:

> At the moment if you visit bitcoin.org then you're recommended to
> download the full client. I think we all agree that at some point we
> need to start presenting users with something more like this:
>
>
> To get started, download wallet apps A or B.
>
> If you'd like to contribute your computing resources to the Bitcoin
> network and have a fast computer with an unfiltered internet
> connection, download:
>
>    - for desktop machines, Bitcoin-Qt
>    - for servers, bitcoind
>
>
>
> Obviously not that exact wording.
>
> I personally feel it's a bit early for this, but it's true that users
> are being turned away by the fact that they're pointed to Bitcoin-Qt
> by default, so having some kind of roadmap or plan for changing that
> would be good.
>
> I think MultiBit is maturing into a client that I'd feel comfortable
> recommending to end users who take the fast-start path, though it
> still has a few serious lacks (encrypted wallets aren't released yet,
> bloom filters will help performance a lot, needs to catch up with some
> newer features). But there doesn't have to be a one true client.
>
> The alternative, I guess, is to make Bitcoin-Qt have an SPV mode. I'm
> not convinced this is the best use of time, but if somebody steps up
> to do it, that could also work. MultiBit has some unique features that
> are quite useful like integrating charting and exchange rate feeds.
>
> What does everyone think on this?
>
>
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