If you get rid of bin file (move/delete), then the keys file should work on any OS.

Blocktimes will also be changed to 2 minutes in order to try and fix the amount of reorgs that occur.

Ring-confidential transactions will also be in the development branch at some point, which means that now the amount of a transaction will also be private

I can provide a quick update, but I don't know if it will be a correct update

The current push is to get the 0.9 binaries released, which include major improvements over the last release. In-line with the development priorities after the block 20612 attack (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=583449.msg8677607#msg8677607), the primary improvements are in the underlying protocol. I can't give a full rundown of what these are, and its been listed somewhere before, but IMO a main improvement is the movement of the blockchain to an LMDB database. LMDB is quite an impressive database solution - it has dynamic memory usage, so if your system has the available RAM and bitmonerod needs it, then it will use it. However, once its done needing all of this ram (mostly during sync), the 0.9 binaries use about 50 MB of RAM. Furthermore, LMDB was built to withstand database corruption. So if you lose power, or your daemon exits uncleanly, your database is intact. This is in contrast to mostly all other cryptocurrencies that use bdb, which apparently requires re-indexing or something after not-so-uncommon events. Indeed, I find the fact that monero is the only cryptocurrency using LMDB kind of ridiculous, considering that the entire technology is based on a database.

Currently with work with the database improvements is to ensure all of the failovers / other implementations are functioning properly... i.e., a bdb implementation is still necessary for 32 bit systems, and ARM systems also require a different solution than LMDB, so I think these are the final sanity checks before 0.9 is released.

Another interesting improvement is change of the base cryptography to the actual standard, as opposed to the cryptonote version of the cryptography.

The above two instances sort of exemplify the work thats been done leading up to the 0.9 release - the cryptonote codebase was a bit messy (apparently... im just regurgitating what I've been told because im no coder). Thus, in order to actually make the network stable, the underlying code had to be improved.

Additionally, there are some pretty core changes in the protocol being implemented for an upcoming hardfork. Primarily, a minimum mixin will be required - this significantly enhances the privacy of the blockchain. For research in the minimum mixin and mixin 0 problem, check out one of the Monero Research Bulletins. Blocktimes will also be changed to 2 minutes in order to try and fix the amount of reorgs that occur.

Finally, a lot of work has been done in simplewallet to increase the utility of actually using the monero protocol / blockchain / network. For instance, one can now use integrated payment IDs, instead of attaching a payment ID to a transaction. This also increases privacy because in the cryptonote implementations, payment IDs are unencrypted / unmasked etc.... essentially just plain text on the blockchain. Now only the sender and receiver can de-code the payment ID. There are also view-only wallets, providing users with some security knowing that intruders onto their hardware can't use their bins to spend their monero. Simplewallet sync times have also been improved.

Thats the stuff that manifests most obvious to me, as a non-coder monero enthusiast that plays around with the software to beta test etc. This is probably a disservice to the coders that have worked on this, because there's probably a lot more.

The next wave of work going into the next release will also be amazing. 0MQ is already implemented in the development branch, and its quirks are being worked out. i2p integrating is also going into the development branch. Ring-confidential transactions will also be in the development branch at some point, which means that now the amount of a transaction will also be private.

The easy answer would be to point you here: https://getmonero.org/design-goals/

Long story short, if I had more money I'd be buying more monero.

You may not want him to print his ideals on crypto.  I understand that.  But in honesty I don't want your ideals to be the point either.  And it is not because I do not share some of them.

Cryptocurrencies will benefit crypto-anarchists, yes. This is by definition.  And there is no doubt they have the potential to interrupt the power of states.  But I have a more inclusive view of the power and use of cryptocurrencies.  And this movement is no the isolated playground of left-libertarians.

Also, to say they are about "questioning every kind of authority" is very short sighted.  The will form new authority structures themselves.  In fact this is the turn this conversation has just taken with the idea posed in the post we are talking about (the scheduled fork-dates).

My 2XRMR...

I think the consensus mechanism would cover that, no? I mean, if a dev team changed the emission, we just wouldn't mine that branch.... right?

I propose here to the core devs to use this opportunity to create a "Monero constitution", we'll have the current Monero developers as our "founding fathers" and a GPG document signed by them laying the principles of Monero and what can and cannot be changed ever (like emission).
http://forum.getmonero.org/4/academic-and-technical/303/a-formal-approach-towards-better-hard-fork-management?page=&noscroll=1#post-1246

edit: this is not of distrust of the current devs but binding the future ones that may come and try "USGavin it".

Can someone talk a bit about lending XMR in Poloniex? What are the risks? Does it worth it? etc...

Is that in the terms and conditions?

I do not find the how-to but the github instructions are OK.
briefly on ubuntu 15.04, to make a "db" bitmonerod

Not using docker atm, but if there's some interest, I could publish Ansible roles for installing the daemon and simplewallet.

Aren't we just in these days worldwide witnessing that the equation is rather stupid and doesn't fit? It is pseudo science (and wrong at that even).

Yes, I would not recommend anyone make investment decisions from random forum posts, but I suspect you already know that Everyone needs to do their own research and make their own mind up. I was skeptical of emunie for a long while, but I am excited by their attempt to use the basic truth of the Quantity Theory of Money (MV=PQ) within a P2P network where all vaiables are known in real time, to achieve a worthwhile goal of price stability. Whether they achieve that is uncertain, but if they do then things will change quite a bit.

Neat! Does this incorporate the tail emissions? it stopped at 2040, so .....

The formula is "0.3"

The amount was chosen based on being a round number within and close to the <1% inflation maintenance reward specified in the ANN OP.

I found this on github

Neat! Does this incorporate the tail emissions? it stopped at 2040, so .....

If you look at the top left corner, you will see that it's not actually tradingview, but rather cryptrader.com. Uses the same engine as TV, much like coingy.

I do not see a 0.0028 to 0.0045 trading range, rather I see an upwards trendline channel with very strong support at 0.0028 with two scenarios. 1) Continuation of the trendline channel with a test of 0.0050 and a possible test of 0.0058. A break of the upward trendline would be very bullish and could lead to a test of 0.010. 2) My second choice is a breakdown of the bottom trendline and possibly a break below 0.0028.