...if you want mass adoption you need to explain a technical step like this in a way that even technophobes can understand.
A fascinating property of this coin distribution method is that your æther coins are always waiting for you, even if you never claim them. Every bitcoin user automatically becomes an æthereum user, as they are automatically awarded coins that can be freely claimed. If you choose to do nothing, you would essentially become a "holder," and holders perform an important function in a cryptocurrency.
The distribution mechanism of æthereum is such that many bitcoin users will become "holders" by default.
I'm a newbie so I'm not a technical expert at using bitcoin wallets. Could you provide a dummies guide on how to sign an æther address under your control with a bitcoin private key?
We will have a detailed tutorial closer to launch, and let me say again that even if you do nothing you still retain ownership of the same amount of æther. You only need to "claim" it if you wish to sell it or use it.
Here is a simple example of how bitcoin-signed messages work: Assume you control the private key to bitcoin address 1LiPtBZu91C4mqFC98EFrHLjwHwXE8cfrE. Assume your æthereum address is "MyAethereumAddress". You can sign this æthereum address with the private key to your bitcoin address using the "sign message" feature in the blockchain.info wallet (other wallets can do this to). The resulting signature is
-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----
MyAethereumAddress
-----BEGIN SIGNATURE-----
1LiPtBZu91C4mqFC98EFrHLjwHwXE8cfrE
HKjPUDueVly2uqcFqxcQNox+IHA9pCgUHXMs+6f9BDN+rkGWRy6Sb04VYmDMADDizc9BK09Iv2getRbiQeUfkAE=
-----END BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----
By posting this to the æthereum network, you've provided cryptographic proof that you control the bitcoins at address 1LiPtBZu91C4mqFC98EFrHLjwHwXE8cfrE without revealing your bitcoin private key. The æthereum network will thus recognize that you can rightfully claim the same percent of æther that this key controls of bitcoin, just like how a bitcoin miner awards himself a coinbase output as a block reward.
1LiPtBZu91C4mqFC98EFrHLjwHwXE8cfrE has a balance of 0. But let's assume it had a balance of 1.28 BTC when the nucleus was formed and let's assume the total number of bitcoins in circulation at this time was 12,800,000 BTC. This means that you control 1.28 / 12,800,000 = 0.00001% of the bitcoin market cap. You would be awarded (for free) 0.00001% of the pre-mined æther.
You could sell your æther, hold it, or purchase more.