The mining focus is bad - we need better clients ;)

[jerfelix]

Just make sure you're printing on acid-free, high-quallity paper and that it's stored in an environment to prevent decay, yellowing, and other environmental issues.  Because if just 1 tiny little block in the QR code becomes unreadable, or the ink/toner flakes off. 

Flat out false.  QR Codes have redundancy in them.  Level H codes can recover from errors up to 30%.

That's like keeping all of your money in a safe deposit box, in cash, and only spending cash for purchases.

You need to be considering the case of people who have substantial amounts of wealth in Bitcoins.  Say I have $100,000 worth of Bitcoins.  What you are suggesting is that I make a $100,000 wager that I can keep my computer free of zero-day viruses, FOR LIFE.  I am not willing to make that bet.  It is, after all, a Windows machine.

Making backup wallets and storing them for years makes a lot of sense.  Paper is far more durable than any electronic medium.  What medium would you suggest that is going to last 100 years?  Floppy?

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[Rob P.]

quote author=pickerin link=topic=12271.msg193197#msg193197 date=1307658904]
That's like keeping all of your money in a safe deposit box, in cash, and only spending cash for purchases.
[/quote]

You need to be considering the case of people who have substantial amounts of wealth in Bitcoins.  Say I have $100,000 worth of Bitcoins.  What you are suggesting is that I make a $100,000 wager that I can keep my computer free of zero-day viruses, FOR LIFE.  I am not willing to make that bet.  It is, after all, a Windows machine.

Making backup wallets and storing them for years makes a lot of sense.  Paper is far more durable than any electronic medium.  What medium would you suggest that is going to last 100 years?  Floppy?
[/quote]

Any single media?  None.  However, I have electronic documents that I've kept around for 25+ years.  How?  I keep the media they are stored on current.  When I upgrade my laptop, the documents get moved to a new one.  That laptop is then backed up in 3 different places.  So, I have four copies in different locations.

You're comparing a medium that has been around for thousands of years, to a medium that has been around for less than 100.  You have no idea which will prove better in the long run.

If you wish to backup your life savings in Bitcoins to a paper document, knock yourself out.  I'll be backing mine up electronically.

My argument wasn't which was better as a backup medium (go back to the first page), it was an argument against paper as a way of safeguarding bitcoins against errors in coding and/or viruses.  I'm not saying paper won't work.  I'm saying if you're putting it on paper to avoid problems in the electronic environment, you're kidding yourself, because in order to use the paper, you have to make it electronic again, and at that point, you have all of the detriments of it being electronic again.

[Nesetalis]

actually they have proven the viability dates on most of the modern media.. its atrocious.

the best CDs, glass with pure metal film sandwiched between.. can go for maybe 100 or 200 years they guess.. but outside that, your best bet is actually microfilm stored in a dark dark place, or paper.

[jerfelix]

I'm saying if you're putting it on paper to avoid problems in the electronic environment, you're kidding yourself, because in order to use the paper, you have to make it electronic again, and at that point, you have all of the detriments of it being electronic again.

And once again, I'll repeat that there's a substantial difference between betting that you don't have a virus twice - once at storage time and once at retrieval time - and betting that you won't EVER have a virus between today and the date the funds are needed.