Don't hate me too much, but I think litecoin is superior to bitcoin

[kokjo]

It can technically do any thing, if there is community support for it.

no. it would create a hard fork, and would no more be bitcoin. it does not matter how many uses is or what they call it, its not bitcoin.

[amincd]

By that logic, removing the 1 MB max block size, which is going to happen and was advocated by Nakamoto, would make it something other than bitcoin.

According to the bitcoin wiki, the prohibited changes to bitcoin's protocol are:

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Prohibited_changes

• Increasing the total number of issued bitcoins beyond 21 million. Precision may be increased, but proportions must be unchanged.
• Changing the bitcoin distribution algorithm such that the subsidy at any given time period is decreased without miner consensus and 3 years notice, or increased beyond improved precision of halving (lossy beginning with block 1,890,000).
• Any rule that adds required, explicit centralization. For example, a change requiring that all blocks be signed by some central organization.
  

A technical improvement that doesn't change the 21 million coin limit and helps bitcoin better meet its initial design goal of being a "purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash" which "would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution" does not change what makes bitcoin important and valuable.

[kokjo]

By that logic, removing the 1 MB max block size, which is going to happen and was advocated by Nakamoto, would make it something other than bitcoin.

by removing the 1MB limit you are not messing up all the old blocks. huge difference.

[solex]

Can people stop talking about transaction time, when they are clearly meaning Confirmation time.

That's a misunderstanding we really have to work at.

Transactions are basically instant (in the order of seconds) in both Bitcoin and Litecoin and are faster as every other System available.

What you mean is confirmation time. The Time until your transaction is basically impossible to charegeback or be in anyway fraudulent.

Guess what, with a credit card this time frame is about 180 days. Yet I have never been asked anywhere to wait this 180 days until my transaction is "confirmed".

+1

Akka:  The Voice of Reason!

[memvola]

Imagine a future where Bitcoin is very busy and the network is very wide and blocks are very large (and we have an optimised protocol, but still). Let's say it takes 1 minute for a block to globally propagate. This is sort of similar to how quickly BGP propagates and the BGP mesh is a comparable very large broadcast network. So now you waste 10% of all your work due to chain splits. With a 2.5 minute interval you're wasting nearly half your total work!

Does propagation time increase linearly with block size? If so, wouldn't the larger block size of more infrequent blocks result in just as much propagation time as a portion of the time between blocks?

I also wonder about this. I don't think it linearly increases, but it can be close enough. Also, what is Litecoin's additional overhead?

All in all, I don't think shorter confirmation times make a practical difference, as long as they aren't near-instant (below 20 seconds?).

[JoelKatz]

By that logic, removing the 1 MB max block size, which is going to happen and was advocated by Nakamoto, would make it something other than bitcoin.

by removing the 1MB limit you are not messing up all the old blocks. huge difference.

Almost any change can be done without messing up old blocks. In fact, I can't easily imagine one that couldn't be done that way.

[blockbet.net]

I agree with the OP, but only on the basis that every following altcoin is going to be better than bitcoin in some way - or there would be no point in creating it!

There's plenty of point in creating altcoins even if they don't have any advantages over Bitcoin - the creator has a chance of becoming a billionaire if it works! Other than that, I don't see the advantages for the community.

[Akka]

Akka:  The Voice of Reason!

That's a contradiction! 

[mr_random]

By that logic, removing the 1 MB max block size, which is going to happen and was advocated by Nakamoto, would make it something other than bitcoin.

by removing the 1MB limit you are not messing up all the old blocks. huge difference.

Almost any change can be done without messing up old blocks. In fact, I can't easily imagine one that couldn't be done that way.

The more widely adopted a coin is though the more resistance the devs will face to changes which aren't mission critical.

[kokjo]

By that logic, removing the 1 MB max block size, which is going to happen and was advocated by Nakamoto, would make it something other than bitcoin.

by removing the 1MB limit you are not messing up all the old blocks. huge difference.

Almost any change can be done without messing up old blocks. In fact, I can't easily imagine one that couldn't be done that way.

his change proposes to change the protocol. removal of the 1MB limit could look like that there was no need for +1MB block before the first one, and that the limit had never been there.

[CoinHoarder]

You know the bitcoiners are scared when more and more of them every day are making their way over to ALT territory to beat their chests and proclaim Bitcoin as the top dog.

Every dog has his day.

[kokjo]

You know the bitcoiners are scared when more and more of them every day are making their way over to ALT territory to beat their chests and proclaim Bitcoin as the top dog.

Every dog has his day.

LOOOOOL!!!!!

[wizzardTim]

I also like LTC a lot better from the BTC slug.

[John (John K.)]

I prefer FC. It's 4 times moar - so it's LTC 2.0. 

[foggyb]

I am new to the whole scene, been using both for a few months now.

Why i think litecoin is better - in order of importance, and all in my opinion:

comments?

Betamax was technically superior to VHS.

[JoelKatz]

his change proposes to change the protocol. removal of the 1MB limit could look like that there was no need for +1MB block before the first one, and that the limit had never been there.

Right, but the same is true of any change. Say the change introduces some new block format entirely -- any change at all in that new format. The old format would still be valid providing it's either the genesis block or a block whose previous block is also in old format. Now, it again looks like there was no need for the new format until the first new format block, after which no old format blocks can ever be added.

[JoelKatz]

Betamax was technically superior to VHS.

That's a myth, just like "Dvorak is superior to QWERTY".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2003/jan/25/comment.comment
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2009/07/the-dirty-backstabbing-mess-called-betamax-vs-vhs/

[JoelKatz]

Dvorak isn't? Citation needed.

The only studies that showed Dvorak was better were done by ... wait for it ... Dvorak himself. (Or done by others but rigged by Dvorak.)

http://www.jaysage.org/QWERTY.htm

[JoelKatz]

Wasn't QWERTY originally created to slow down typing speed, though? That's what I heard, although it could be wrong.

Of course not. Think about it -- for what possible reason would you want to slow down typing speed? In fact, it was created to speed up typing speed by keeping the hammers on old typewriters from hitting each other when you typed quickly. By pure luck, that also distributed the load over your fingers and avoids having to use the same finger twice in a row to hit different keys.

[ImI]

Nevertheless one important point is that not always the superior system/concept is winning the biggest marketshare or audience at all.

So assuming LTC is superior to BTC there is no guarantee that this manifests itself in a bigger piece of the cake.