It has been around for a while as a proof of concept in the form of a centralized website
but now is being taken to another level
by making it work as a P2P application like bitcoin.

The new incarnation is what I referenced in the link in my first post.

There is goolge group for the Ripple Project as well.

Search Ripple Project to get more details.

If this new project is done like I hope. This will be a real game changer 

Hello,

I came here to start commenting on the new project ripple.com
mentioned here in this thread.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=128413.0

I can't comment on the thread I want just yet so had to start here.

I have studied alternative monetary systems for a good while and if the
new Ripple.com can pull off a good implementation of the Ripple Idea
it will change the way everyone thinks of money and doing business.

In it's most simple form Ripple is just a way of keep track of IOUs
(credits/debits) between parties.

It is meant for facilitating transactions.  Not for longterm value storage
or wealth accumulation.  If you want to hold value, put the value into
something that appreciates (something more scarce like gold or bitcoin) 
But all your daily and monthly transactional
needs (one day) would ideally be done in a Ripple like system.

Bitcoin is great as a store of value but does not help me one
bit if live in a farming community where we do business among
ourselves and could care less about dollars or bitcoins.

Local farming communities are cash strapped and bitcoin strapped.
They have lots of value to offer to each other but no
good system to keep track of their credits and debits between themselves.
So often potential production and resources just go idle.
This is where Ripple comes into play.

If Ripple is done right,  Labels for currencies in Ripple
are only necessary because the lables represent a recognizable unit of value.
There is no other reason to use term dollars or euros in the system
other than the fact that people easily recognize the value of such
denominations.   

With Ripple done right, farmers will be able to issue recognizable
units of coffee, corn, beans, eggs etc..  denominated in kilos or lbs

I could buy 2 kilos of corn from my neighbor buy paying him with
ripple credit for 1 dozen eggs from my chickens when they lay.
My Ripple account goes negative 12 eggs and his +12 eggs.

Or pay him with credit for x kilos of coffee from next harvest.

He can spend this coffee or egg credit with locals or anyone
that understands the value of an egg or coffee in the WORLD

With Ripple done right, if someone comes to me with egg credits
I can pay them off with any other other currency in my ripple account
we agree on. Or even settle with hard cash at a discount.

Ripple will stimulate local exchange without needing to have
hard currencies or cash.  People and communities
can and will become more sovereign and independent.

The "money supply" with Ripple is directly tied to the number
of people using the system.  So it shrinks and expands
as necessary based on peoples trust in other in their
ablity to produce.  This is super cool and saves us from the
errors governments make in expanding and shrinking the
money supply.

With Ripple done right, the possibilities are endless.

Where bitcoin comes into play is in international value transfers
or transacting business where the parties have no ripple/trust connection.
Plus if you manage to accumulate too much credit from other users in
Ripple, you can begin to cash in that value and store it in bitcoins.
One day you will be able to buy cars and houses with bitcoin...
but no necessarily with ripple credit.

Lots more technical stuff to add.  Comments welcome.
Just need to get a few posts in so I can get more permissions to
join in in other discussions  here 

xenium