Quote from: ciscokid on March 08, 2014, 02:59:17 AM

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.

1 - If there was no Ether, then people could write contracts that run infinite loops. Having a cryptofuel prevents them from doing so. There are other reasons (rewarding miners, the need to have transactions to trigger contracts, etc).
2a - Nothing prevents anyone from forking Ethereum at anytime - all code is open sourced wall to wall. I don't think forking to a 'cheaper' Ethereum would work for that specific purpose though - the 'clone', even if maintained regularly, would be subject to the same market forces.
2b - How the computing fees are processed (ie, what is the base fee, do they fluctuate, would they be voted on or arbitrary, etc) is still being worked on. We have economists looking at the question and building models.
3. I don't think we want to prevent copycats using patents. We want to prevent copycats by being the best

. Also it keeps the whole team on its toes and honest. I quite like that idea

4. To the contract providing the service. Contracts have balances.
5. Sorry, my personal webpage needs a bit of work, I've been focused on Ethereum in the last month

I'll try to fix later on, thanks for the heads up!