Thank you for the reply. Some more questions...

1- What exactly is the need for ether? Could the system, run without it? How exactly does it support the system? And are individual computers in the p2p network actually assisting in the " processing work" in any way?

2- What is preventing someone from making a clone should ether become too expensive?

I know you can't clone the dev team, but if ether becomes too expensive then you can bet there will be a cheaper alternative available right? The language of the clone would then be compatible with any new layers/plugins being built on the ethereum protocol and they would essentially offer the same experience. Correct? Is there anything in place to help minimize the risk of this? 


2a- Regarding the above question, would this mean a strong increase in price would actually hurt ethereum, thus making huge price gains not a likely scenario? Because it would be too expensive to use? Or can the ether cost to the system (or whatever it cost to use a service) be changed on the fly? If so, would that be done automatically?


3- Is there any reason why you guys can't patent the technology but still keep it open source? To prevent copycats?

4- When you use ether to "pay" for a service, where does that ether go?

5- Is there something wrong with your webpage, http://www.ursium.com  It wont load....



Sorry for the newb questions, but I am pretty new to this all.