I understand that encryption details might need a discussion, but a wallet load/save feature seems like it should have been there from the beginning. I'm a developer too, and I would consider wallet handling critical priority. I'm just curious if something like this is even in the pipeline is all.

If one of the goals of Bitcoin is to have it be widely used, it needs to be easy to use. Currently, only computer-proficient people have the skills to use Bitcoin effectively. There are two major barriers I see that prevents the non-computer-proficient person from using Bitcoin. Both relate to the wallet file:

1. The wallet is 'difficult' to access/backup/transfer. What percentage of eventual Bitcoin users would even know where this wallet file is stored? Even fewer know how to navigate to their hidden-by-default AppData folder. (I'm assuming most people would use a Windows installation).

2. The wallet is completely unsafe. Everybody who uses the default installation option has an unencrypted wallet ripe for the taking. It would be easy to write a little *.bat script to steal a wallet. You cannot expect the non-computer user to understand how to encrypt a file using third-party tools, especially a file so 'difficult' to access.

Bitcoin adoption could be facilitated by having some rather trivial additions to the client:

Functionality changes:

• Wallet is always stored in an encrypted state when not in RAM.
• When the Bitcoin client starts, user must provide password to the encrypted wallet. Upon success, wallet resides in RAM so it can be used.
• When a new address is created, the program can automatically update the encrypted archive with the new payment keys.
• When the program is closed, the wallet file is still encrypted/safe.
• As a result of the previous point, the wallet is safe even if the program is closed unexpectedly (power failure, or the like).

UI Changes (under 'File'):

• Save current wallet as...
• Load wallet...

(Of course, a prompt for an encryption password would show up for either of those options).

This functionality would take a very small amount of effort to implement. Is there a reason this hasn't been done yet? I am trying to introduce Bitcoin to family members, and these are problems I anticipate. Some are very interested in the concept, but cannot navigate a file browser. To be honest, most people in the world are not that great with computers, but still participate in the economy. User-friendliness is key. I believe that simple changes like that would expand the economy by orders of magnitude.

Please let me know what efforts are being taken to make Bitcoin completely accessible to anyone interested, not just the technologically inclined. Thanks.

EDIT:  I just now noticed there were two dev boards. I originally posted this to what looks like the third-party dev board...but my proposition needs to be in the official client. Wallet management should be a core feature.

At most companies, work computers aren't that great. I'm saying people would most likely have to do CPU mining on machines that may not have had their hardware updated since 2005 or something. Besides that, the company would detect a lot of IRC traffic, wouldn't they? Probably not worth the trouble of getting caught for just a few Mhash, if that.

But I'm sure some people are doing it anyway. Might as well have the computer do something if it's going to be on all of the time, they might say. And if you're lucky enough to have Radeons in your work computers, then all the better.

Lets say you generate 16 billion addresses per second.
Lets say you do this for 400 years.
You now control 1.38196 × 10^-28 ratio of the addresses.
That's 0.0000000000000000000000000138196% of the key space Calculation.

That's not really a significant chunk. I think there is more of a chance of a gene mutation that would allow a baby to be born as an adult with superpowers, then he or she could just rob banks.

Basically pretty much EVERY bad thing you can have happen to you has a larger chance of happening than an address collision.

EDIT: I must add that generating 16 billion addresses per second is beyond what a standard person can do. 16 billion addresses is 16000000000*160 bits or 298 GB minimum for just the public key portion in your wallet for just one second of those theoretical 400 years. I think most people would run out of resources fairly quick.

Just want to confirm that I played and won 4 BTC on there. Thanks!

What happens if you switch from proportional to per-share in the middle of this block if you've gotten a lot of shares in proportional? Will I still get credit for all of those shares?

I think the difficulty will be going up in the next couple hours (block 110880), so hopefully somebody in this pool solves a block before then.

I'm another person that has issues with the CUDA miner speed dropping significantly if it isn't the currently highlighted window (109000 khash/s down to around 16000 khash/s). I really like this miner, but I pay ~100khash/s opportunity cost to actually use my PC. I run the 4way miner at the same time and see no slowdown when it isn't the active window.

I have W7 Professional 64-bit, mining on a gtx 480.

I'm curious, being new to pooled mining--what is the motivation for choosing one mode over the other? Is it to remove some of the luck component?  I can see that maybe if the pool as a whole is really unlucky and doesn't solve a block then each share in "proportional" would be worth less than if the pool solves it faster.

Does the current pay rate you have there represent the statistical average rate we would expect in proportional mode anyway?

Confirmed I got my first payout with this pool. Finally...my mining amounted to something.

Trying to use puddinpop's rpc miners. I've never joined a pool before--what am I missing?


EDIT: Never mind, figured it out. Replacing server/port with -url=http://example.com:8332

Oh yes, I am. I didn't realize this topic was about the original client. I must have been skimming too much when I replied.

I'm running an X6 1090T BE, not overclocked and can confirm that I get ~17500 khash/s.

But seriously, how can Bitcoin become ubiquitous without dealing with the tax issue? If it ends up displacing USD or whatever currency is in the country of interest, then the government would essentially get no funding because it is nearly impossible for them to figure out who owns which bitcoins, how me depositing to my "savings" wallet is any different from a commercial exchange, and if specific bitcoins are still even "in" the country or not.

Like it or not, at least some taxation is necessary, so I'm trying to see how bitcoin can succeed when the global scope and decentralization makes it practically impossible to tax? (If this information is out there, please let me know. I've pretty much been reading about bitcoins all week and this doesn't seem addressed.)

I get 108000-109000 and I haven't overclocked it. I use the CUDA rpcminer.  When I use poclbm (opencl), I get around 104000.