Bitcoin Forum

A guy saw this very stupid shit: "C:\>cd.." and said: 'what the fuck is that?'  So he got rid of the command line and made Win3.1.  Very soon after that, he was the richest guy in the world.  

Real people can't read things like C:\>cd...  That is for computers.  Computers and nerds - but not people.  So long as computers have things like C:\>cd.., people won't use them.  And they didn't use them when C:\>cd.. was used.  If you want people to use computers, you've got to get rid of that crap that is unreadable to humans and replace it with something else.  One look at C:\>cd.., and people run away.

Why is Bitcoin having no luck at all with user adoption?  Because the very first thing people see is: 3BgtSzEpMH6PVwKNhp4MV5ruTFLTvmqmLo.  They don't want an explanation of what it is.  They don't want to learn how freaking cool asymmetric cryptography is.  They don't want to hear about elliptical curves.  They don't want to try to read it, or pronounce it.  It is junk.  Junk that only a computer can digest.  The first time a person sees that garbage - they run away.  Only nerds want to read about what that means.  Only nerds are proud to be able to decipher such things.  

Real people even hate QR codes.  Even if a wallet had no Bitcoin address and all QR codes - people hate that crap.  Only nerds use Bitcoin.  Real people aren't ever going to use it - unless we figure out how to turn C:\>cd.. into cute little clickable icons that are clean, easy and fun to read and understand.  Figure that out, and you'll be the next richest guy in the world.  

We have to stop showing 3BgtSzEpMH6PVwKNhp4MV5ruTFLTvmqmLo to the public.  It can't be read/understood anyway.  Why show it?  That belongs in the engine room of wallet - not in the user interface.  If you want to keep people away from Bitcoin, just keep printing 3BgtSzEpMH6PVwKNhp4MV5ruTFLTvmqmLo everywhere - on wallets, on websites, on exchanges, on checkout systems.  

Only Circle seems to be going down the path of making this user friendly for non-nerds.  That is not enough.  Now go fix your wallet.

Interesting, with a great analogy. The basic idea of "we need to make this simpler for the masses" has been said a thousand times, but the "C:\>cd.." analogy is fresh and right on the money! I also like the ending of the analogy--"Figure that out, and you'll be the next richest guy in the world." (You have a talent for writing.)

Thanks for the read. :)

Regards,
Chris

I couldnt agree more. The basic idea of Bitcoin is there and its solid. The next step is to make it look good. 95% of people have no idea how a credit card works even tho they use it daily. Bitcoin needs to get to this point and it will eventually.

The C:/CD is very different than BTC address. They have notthing related in common. BTC has come so far away and has shown a
great growth in last couple of  Years.

Amen. (Include me in the 95%.)

Me ;)

To be fair, the the guy came up with C:>cd.., 8088 was a non-starter for GUI, and, by the time A:>cd.. turned to C:>cd.., he was doing pretty well.

Services like Xapo use email addresses, which people find marginally more friendly. But yes, the hard core bitcoiners who have their own wallets are small.

Coinbase converted ugly address to email address.
I do think their conversion is not simple and easy to use, someone can start a better service.

OPs right.

here's a possible solution

web browser plug-ins

make a plug-in has a built in bitcoin wallet
the browser recognizes  and replaces bitcoin addresses with Send Payment buttons
user clicks the button and is prompted to enter the amount to send.

or append to the HTML language <BTC_PAY addr="1asfk8234msdkfal8934nasdf908sad"  amount="10$" >click here to pay</BTC_PAY>

this would be cool
we need to have bitcoin wallet stuff buried under the covers as much as possible
poeple should be able to send payments to email addresses or usernames

nodes could be made to understand what "send a payment to adamstgbit" means, it could mean, all they have to remember is adamstgbit = 1zjdafky293487sndafj9sadf8

Nah. I don't think I could agree to that as I have seen quite a lot of 'non-nerds' use Bitcoin.

wait if we makes bitcoin to simple to use before we solve the scaling problem we might run into problems

let's keep bitcoin nerdy till its ready for mass adoption

I disagree this analogy is perfect.  Until windows 99% of people wouldn't touch a computer.  They made fun of those who did now every single person has one in their pocket.

I'm surprised I never had similar thoughts to you, even though I've been using it since late 2011. It's a great way into showing non techy people that BTCitcoin usage it's not that complicated to use (if ever this gets implemented in the future). A simple change of name aside from the chain of letters and numbers would surely make it easier to the eyes of public and as result, drive more users to try it. This function could be used as a option for others into remembering the address better, just like how we can do it with identifiers.

if anyone thinks they know how credit cards work.. ask yourself without googling. what is a luhn check.
if you dont know the answer then your part of the 99% that dont know the technicals of credit cards.

and its things like making bitcoin so 'laymen' that people do not need to know about cryptography of elliptic curves or even the basics of how many bytes a tx is to work out a fee.

they just need the most simple '3 click solution' to pay for something.

back in the 90's people needed special programs called FTP clients and needed to learn about ftp addresses and ports and commands.. to get files onto the internet
but now FTP hosting is now 'cloud services' that people can use without knowing any technicals. they just press upload, and its done

one day later, click bots will be all the rage  :P

The most "human compatible" address format was probably the robot faces from early bitshares. Sadly, they kicked this out.

Qr codes and an wallet app, could solve this problem, i use it for small payments, and its easy to explain to people that don't know how bitcoin works. You open the app, scan the wallet payment address, write the amount, and click send.

Write your own suggestion on how to improve this and present it to the devs. This is an issues that needs no fixing: Bitcoin is designed to work this way. Could it improve in being user friendly? Maybe. I don't have better suggestions. If you feel so strongly about this, you must have a way to replace the system currently in practice for something better and more user friendly.

Agree its almost a good thing that bitcoin has these barriers or it could run quick out the gate to its fate if not prepared properly. The masses are a fickle lot and group think is the flavor of the month for most of them.

Great points. ;)

Me

New wallet services are being more innovative and making it simple for users.
Spectrocoin also allow user to transfer funds with email addresses besides bitcoin address

Bitcoin was created to allow the individual user to entirely control their own funds, without control or restraint.
Circle is an exchange and my understanding is that they do not provide their users with their private keys.

Are you saying that for the masses to use Bitcoin/bitcoin, they need not be bothered with their private keys as well?

This shouldn't be an issue, people should be able to keep track of their private keys, especially in today's hyper-connected world where you can find and store information like that easily.

I guess some people just might not want to be bothered with a private key?

All I am saying is...

if you show this:  3BgtSzEpMH6PVwKNhp4MV5ruTFLTvmqmLo to computer nerds, they will squirm and giggle like a bowl full of little girls.  But if you show that to people - they won't touch it.  No matter what. 

You can spend eternity trying to explain it - people won't listen.  People won't ever use bitcoin if it involves long explanations of where to put / how to handle 'private keys'. 

And there is the root cause of the problem. Assuming people -will- when they -should-.

I understand and agree with what you are essentially saying.

I just find it sad that Bitcoin was created so that individuals could control and perform their
own financial payments and savings and would not rely on trusted third-party systems. Now,
if your argument comes to reality one day, the average user will once again rely on those
third-party systems that caused Satoshi to make Bitcoin in the first place.

If people never really understand Bitcoin, chances are they will just stick with credit cards no matter what we do.
The incentive to use Bitcoin/bitcoin comes from what makes it different from the current financial systems.

I think someone already had that idea, but if not then for sure someone will steal it from you. I agree with you that masses will accept simple and easy things more faster. It's how economy works, and big teams try to make simple things more simpler.
But we have same weaknesses, who doesn't like when things go easy? Do you wish to say that you will not have some fancy wallet in future?
I think evolution is answer on everything, everything is growing and changings shapes. Why to deny it, is easier to accept it.

up until now, bitcoin users tend to be educated, nerd geek type of people.
To push to main stream, I think address is not user friends probably is not the main reason.

I actually don't know well program language, I only know HTML.
after reading I get this, address of wallet is unique because it has codes on it and has its own pattern to be made. CMIIW

Once there was someone telling me that assembly language, such as
mov eax,Y
add eax,1...

is such as mystery and only genius will understand....

I think these are the simplest forms of command that are the building blocks of super complex computing world we have now... 99.999% of people using computer don't even know they exist...

Now, shall I donate some coins?

It is interesting analogy but why don't you compare bitcoin address to number of bank account? It is the closest thing I can think of.
Bank account number is long number and I bet most of you can't remember it. In addition there is no well defined standard for the length of US bank account numbers. 

Well, remembering a number is easier than remember "Capital I, Five, Nine, lowercase U, Capital M..." etc. There is some merit to a bank account being a more effective means of a holding account than a private key.

Yeah I am old enough to remember that language.
even in embedded world, assembly still exists , but not as dominant audit used to be.

The question, as a master of assembly, you can not figure out who owns 3BgtSzEpMH6PVwKNhp4MV5ruTFLTvmqmLo?

Hey, That was how everything started and look at what we have now. < Windows 10 >

cd ..
MD BitcoinClassic
cd BitcoinClassic
DIR
HELP
cd ..
RMDIR BitcoinClassic
DIR
MD BitcoinCore
cd BitcoinCore
MD SegWit
MD LightingNetwork
DIR
EXIT

If you have been there, you would know what this means. ^smile^ We were proud to be part of that generation and where it all started. Bitcoin is now transitioning from Dos to Windows with the partnership between Circle and Barklays. One of these days, people will send  ;D ??? :P :-X :-[ with their transfer to other people.

I get your point, but you just have to love the fact that we were part of the Dos stage of Bitcoin. ^smile^

although this topic may sound true and i'd be lying if i said i didn't have the same thought. yeah that would be great if the complex looking string of characters and numbers (a bitcoin address) could be shortened to something easy to see and remember BUT the reality is that in this day and age nobody is remembering anything not even simple phone numbers that is far less complected, hell i don't even remember what my phone number is; we all have technology like smart phones for these things. and the solution to topic's problem is QR codes or things like that.

also do you think this: GB29 NWBK 6016 1331 9268 19 is simple? and people like it?
no ofcourse not but you never hear anybody complaining.
this is International Bank Account Number or IBAN (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Bank_Account_Number) and it can be as long as 30 alphanumeric characters
something which we all use without thinking twice. you write it on piece of paper, in your phone, or in a .txt file and copy paste the content just like what you do with bitcoin address!

To be honestly i liked it when it was cd .. and dir instead of just mouseclicks :>