Did any of you stop to think that Satoshi = Sir Richard?
no
there should be no decimals, only whole numbers
When btc is a billion $, (or whatever, I can't count), decimals can be added
So you want us to work from satoshis. Personally, I believe that you are the exception, and most people are good with two decimal places b/c we are used to it, and we can easily identify two digits behind the decimal without developing a major brain fart.
So it seems that we agree on two digits beyond the decimal. It's just a matter of how it gets implemented. I wasn't being totally serious in my answer but I guess my point was not to do it in a way that necessitates the need to keep making changes.
Now that we have solved that, how about world peace?
BTW I just talked to Satoshi and he thinks that everybody here speculating about his identity is really quite amusing.
It seems that you are never really going to get away without making some kind of change, at least under the hood... Bitcoins are not real physical bits, anyhow, they are digital, so why does it matter if there is change?
I can pay for a cup of coffee or an iphone or a motorcycle or a lambo or a yaht... there are so many different valuations, and NOT matter what there is going to be change.... or one person transmits BTC to another person and then the second person transmits back. Even the technical-side explanations of the transmittals of bitcoin does NOT cause us to rest b/c bitcoin is anything but simple. NONETHELESS, I believe that I get your point (and we seem to agree about making interface matters easier for the user).
For example, let's say you have 1 bitcoin in your bitcoin wallet, and you come over to my place because you want to buy my bicycle for .7 bitcoin. I tell you that I am not taking anything less than .8btc, and in the end we agree upon .75btc. Apparently, even the transmission of that .75BTC from you to me does NOT cause one straight forward transmission of the btc, but instead causes several transmissions, and I do NOT even know how to explain it (or whether I understand it, but so long as I get the .75BTC and you still have .25BTC in your wallet, then what does it matter?).
I realize that the transmission of BTC and a lot of aspects of BTC are complicated beyond my ability to understand them. Further, I am NOT sure whether as an end user I need to understand the technicalities as long as I am easily able to use the system to accomplish my objectives of storing and/or transmitting value and I can understand the value... and I believe part of the point to convert from the BTC to the XBT is to make the whole value concept more concrete for the masses, even though making a change to the unit does not really change anything about the fundamental technicalities of either system.
Anyhow, my point is that it seems inevitable that some change is going to need to be made in the process of making BTC transactions (at least under the hood).. even though maybe NOT at the user consciousness level.. and the place of the decimal would NOT really change the fundamentals.