With 0.9.3 on the horizon it doesn't seem like v1 is that far off.
What does the number 0.9.3 have to do with v1?
Probably safe to say that it will come out within the next 2 years.
My questions regarding v1 are as follows:
I'd expect it to be more like 5 to 10 years.
- Will v1 only be released when Bitcoin is considered "out of beta"?
That would be my expectation.
- Or will it continue to be beta software?
That will depend on who is handling the pull requests at the time, and how they choose to manage it, but my guess is that the version will change to 1.x.y when the general consensus is that the software is no longer "beta".
- Will there be a major graphical overhaul of qt?
Are you offering to write the code, create the test cases, and review the portions of code submitted by others? There may be a graphical overhaul. There may not. That will really depend on the contributions of the volunteers.
- Does release of v1 "depend" on any features being implemented? e.g. pruning, invertible bloom lookup, etc..
I don't think there are specific features or bug fixes that will automatically make it "v1". Many things will be added and changed, but I don't think you can check off a list to determine how close we are.
- Devs are wary of implementing major changes due to the high risk, but will more risks be taken before v1 as it could be higher risk to wait until after we are over the barrier...?
Since this system manages a rather substantial amount of people's wealth, I suspect that changes will be made slowly and carefully. Anything implemented will be done with as little risk as possible. This means code reviews and lots of testing (especially with modifications that aren't considered to be "trivial"). This doesn't mean that these changes can't happen, it just means that they won't happen quickly.