Preview build of our new client (only for the adventurous!)
Hi all!
For the past few weeks we've been working on an alternative UI for the Bitcoin client.
The goal is to create something that my mom could use and I believe we're getting there!
We feel that this is an important step towards mainstream acceptance of Bitcoin.
Technical details:
In case you're wondering - we're eating our dogfood and have moved our meager Bitcoin holdings into our client.
It certainly makes testing and debugging a little bit more exciting!
The catch is - we're closed source, at least for now. We feel that earning people's trust is about more than just dumping the source code.
Our source tree also has a lot of work in progress on cool features that we would like to be the first client to support.
Once we're ready to come out of beta, we'll re-evaluate this decision.
I am well aware of how well this will go down around here and I preemptively support your calls for my head on a spike.
So here are the rules:
For the terminally curious, here it is: http://allbitcoin.com
Sample the screenshots or run it in a VM - as far away from your wallet.dat as you can.
We would very much like to hear what you think about our progress so far!
- AllBitcoin
For the past few weeks we've been working on an alternative UI for the Bitcoin client.
The goal is to create something that my mom could use and I believe we're getting there!
We feel that this is an important step towards mainstream acceptance of Bitcoin.
Technical details:
- based on 0.3.23, tracking changes as they come in
- UI is currently a .Net Windows Forms app. We have a native Mac and Win32 versions in the pipeline but for now we like to exploit the fast iteration of C# to find what works and what doesn't as quickly as possible.
- Native code (bitcoin and supporting libraries) is statically linked with a thin managed C++ wrapper.
- Private keys are encrypted with EVP_des_ede3_cbc with random IV and each wallet has a random salt.
- Other than the encryption, the wallet format is the same but for now our client will refuse to import unencrypted wallets.
- Import / export wallet to a simple JSON format. Import can merge in wallets encrypted with a different password (of course only if you have it).
I think it's a more suitable format for backups (including the possibility of printing it out!
) - RPC currently disabled
- Early support for one of the bitcoin: URL schemes (the one that goes bitcoin:/amount/address/note, we'll support the others too).
In case you're wondering - we're eating our dogfood and have moved our meager Bitcoin holdings into our client.
It certainly makes testing and debugging a little bit more exciting!
The catch is - we're closed source, at least for now. We feel that earning people's trust is about more than just dumping the source code.
Our source tree also has a lot of work in progress on cool features that we would like to be the first client to support.
Once we're ready to come out of beta, we'll re-evaluate this decision.
I am well aware of how well this will go down around here and I preemptively support your calls for my head on a spike.
So here are the rules:
- Don't run binaries from sources you don't trust, especially on a PC that has your Bitcoin wallet!
- Don't put any non-trivial amount of Bitcoins into beta software! (we do and it can be nerve wracking!)
- Even with the non-trivial amounts, back up your wallet frequently!
- Don't ever forget your password, they are not recoverable!
For the terminally curious, here it is: http://allbitcoin.com
Sample the screenshots or run it in a VM - as far away from your wallet.dat as you can.
We would very much like to hear what you think about our progress so far!
- AllBitcoin