Sia - Siafund Redemption Deadline: June 1st, 2015

[Lordoftherigs]

Is there any update ?  I tried to upload a file but it still doesn't work...

[DreamSpace]

i think it's time for a progress report 

[Taek]

Sorry, the message boards have been slow so I haven't been checking often. Easiest way to reach me is email (it's on the github page).

We're hoping to have the next release out before March 9th. And we're hoping to launch the currency on April 10th. That's not a hard date, but it's the target we're aiming at. It won't be perfect at launch but the coins you earn from mining and hosting files (after launch) will be permanent.

Some time around launch we'll also hand out the siafunds, which I'm sure a lot of you are eager to claim. They'll start accumulating coins immediately.

*fingers crossed*

[Cyberian Forest]

Just found this coin tonight and I'm deeply interested, and have been trying to read through all of the information. You say that mining is real, so that means whatever Siacoins I am mining right now I will be able to use as currency when the project goes live? Also, what is the coincap for Siacoins? Thanks, and looking forward to the new release!

[Taek]

You say that mining is real, so that means whatever Siacoins I am mining right now I will be able to use as currency when the project goes live?

No, coins right now are not real. All balances will be reset when we release the currency. I meant to say that coins will be real & permanent after the currency launch, and that the target date for the currency launch is April 10th. Sorry for the confusion.

At launch, there will be 300,000 coins per block. After about 5 years, there will be 30,000 coins per block, and all blocks after that forever will have a 30,000 coin reward.

[marek3ball-orig]

It is clear how will look situation when I will have 100% guarantee that my uploaded file will be there one year later?

And will exist situation where I will not be sure that the file will be there?

For example person will upload passwords list and lose local copy.

[Taek]

It is clear how will look situation when I will have 100% guarantee that my uploaded file will be there one year later?

Initially we cannot promise that anything you upload will still be there in a year, especially for the early life of the network we can't be sure that the same hosts will be around for a year or more. We can however provide 'health' indications of your file and repair tools - if the 'health' of the file goes down it's pretty easy to bring it back up, but you need to click a button; it's not automatic. Eventually, I do think a 100% guarantee for 1 year will be reasonable. (but not immediately!)

And will exist situation where I will not be sure that the file will be there?

For example person will upload passwords list and lose local copy.

Files will be encrypted, with the keys stored on your disk. If you lose the keys, you won't be able to recover the file. It may be possible to have keys that are like brainwallets, so all you need to do is remember a password, but for the time being you'll have to keep the keys backed up.

====

Overall, I believe that storage on Sia will be more reliable than any other solution. But until we've got at least 20 different people constantly online as hosts, I wouldn't trust file uptime at all. We won't make any guarantees, especially while the network is young.

[Tobo]

What is the minimum hardware requirement to be a host/node of Sia network?

[marek3ball-orig]

It is clear how will look situation when I will have 100% guarantee that my uploaded file will be there one year later?

Initially we cannot promise that anything you upload will still be there in a year, especially for the early life of the network we can't be sure that the same hosts will be around for a year or more. We can however provide 'health' indications of your file and repair tools - if the 'health' of the file goes down it's pretty easy to bring it back up, but you need to click a button; it's not automatic. Eventually, I do think a 100% guarantee for 1 year will be reasonable. (but not immediately!)

And will exist situation where I will not be sure that the file will be there?

For example person will upload passwords list and lose local copy.

Files will be encrypted, with the keys stored on your disk. If you lose the keys, you won't be able to recover the file. It may be possible to have keys that are like brainwallets, so all you need to do is remember a password, but for the time being you'll have to keep the keys backed up.

====

Overall, I believe that storage on Sia will be more reliable than any other solution. But until we've got at least 20 different people constantly online as hosts, I wouldn't trust file uptime at all. We won't make any guarantees, especially while the network is young.

Then it will be really useful to have all my data locally too and running some sync software which will check status of my files and in case some file was deleted from all hosts it will inform me and I re upload file from my local disk.

[Taek]

What is the minimum hardware requirement to be a host/node of Sia network?

Any desktop or laptop less than 5 years old should be good enough. I don't think a RasPi is going to be enough, but anything with a decent amount of power should be enough.

Then it will be really useful to have all my data locally too and running some sync software which will check status of my files and in case some file was deleted from all hosts it will inform me and I re upload file from my local disk.

This is not something we'll be able to make in the next 2 months, but perhaps we can do it in the future.

[msin]

Will you plan some kind of marketing campaign?  Obviously it's pretty dead on this thread, so would be good to get the word out prior to launch. 

[Taek]

Will you plan some kind of marketing campaign?

I am not sure the best way to approach marketing. Making a post on HN and the various altcoin subreddits seems like a good place to start. I'm somewhat worried about getting too much attention too fast, though at this point I think we're ready for 100+ machines on the network. If we get more attention than that, we're in a good place anyway. I do plan on PMing and emailing everyone who has expressed interest over the past 9 months. It'd also be interesting to let the storj community know that we've appeared as a ready-to-go competitor, but I wouldn't want to be rude about it.

I'm not sure what else we would want to be doing.

[marek3ball-orig]

Then it will be really useful to have all my data locally too and running some sync software which will check status of my files and in case some file was deleted from all hosts it will inform me and I re upload file from my local disk.

This is not something we'll be able to make in the next 2 months, but perhaps we can do it in the future.

I understand that everything is not so easy. This is only from my "home user" point of view. Maybe describe real usage for end user would help to understand and see what is planed.

In case I know that I must have local copy and at least receive warning when my file is not in the cloud. Then it is better.

Or you are targeting complete different usage.

[msin]

Will you plan some kind of marketing campaign?

I am not sure the best way to approach marketing. Making a post on HN and the various altcoin subreddits seems like a good place to start. I'm somewhat worried about getting too much attention too fast, though at this point I think we're ready for 100+ machines on the network. If we get more attention than that, we're in a good place anyway. I do plan on PMing and emailing everyone who has expressed interest over the past 9 months. It'd also be interesting to let the storj community know that we've appeared as a ready-to-go competitor, but I wouldn't want to be rude about it.

I'm not sure what else we would want to be doing.

Information on Sia team/company, Use-Case for Sia, Instructions, etc.. on Website is a good start and easily distributed.  A new thread here with more info on launch.  Giveaways is always a good way to get people using.  Have a press release written up that can be distributed to Coindesk, Cointelegraph, etc.. shortly after launch.

[super3]

Will you plan some kind of marketing campaign?

I am not sure the best way to approach marketing. Making a post on HN and the various altcoin subreddits seems like a good place to start. I'm somewhat worried about getting too much attention too fast, though at this point I think we're ready for 100+ machines on the network. If we get more attention than that, we're in a good place anyway. I do plan on PMing and emailing everyone who has expressed interest over the past 9 months. It'd also be interesting to let the storj community know that we've appeared as a ready-to-go competitor, but I wouldn't want to be rude about it.

I'm not sure what else we would want to be doing.

Looks like it is progressing quite well. Shoot me PM and let figure out how we can work together.

[DreamSpace]

Sorry, the message boards have been slow so I haven't been checking often. Easiest way to reach me is email (it's on the github page).

We're hoping to have the next release out before March 9th. And we're hoping to launch the currency on April 10th. That's not a hard date, but it's the target we're aiming at. It won't be perfect at launch but the coins you earn from mining and hosting files (after launch) will be permanent.

Some time around launch we'll also hand out the siafunds, which I'm sure a lot of you are eager to claim. They'll start accumulating coins immediately.

*fingers crossed*

no problem therefore i'm asking and it sounds like good news, will test the new release if it is available.

[Taek]

We're hoping to have the next release out before March 9th.

We missed this by a few days. But I'm really happy with how it's coming along. It's become a lot easier to use.

New expected date is the 15th. It's mostly done, but I'm not sure how long it's going to take us to get executables. I think by the end of the day today we can have something ready if you're willing to follow some instructions to build it yourself.

Looks like it is progressing quite well. Shoot me PM and let figure out how we can work together.

Totally will. We're not quite ready for a lot of attention but we should be soon.

[msin]

Great, looking forward to testing next version.

[Taek]

https://github.com/NebulousLabs/Sia/releases/tag/v0.3.0

The UI isn't done yet, but if you don't mind getting your hands dirty, you can build it yourself: https://github.com/NebulousLabs/Sia-UI

You'll want to download Sia for your OS from the first link, and then run the "siad" program. After that you can run the UI and everything should work alright. We still don't have an installer. We'll hopefully have a download link for the UI by the end of the week.

====

Most of the changes have been to make everything work better. We added a few smaller features, but mostly we improved testing and made things run better. Sia now recognizes 0-confirmation transactions, which should speed up things like uploading significantly. Small files should upload in a minute or two, and download in a few seconds. Large files will probably take a lot longer. Siacoins are still betacoins, which means all balances will be reset when we launch the currency (so don't be sad if you lose them).

Until you are used to using Sia, some things might be confusing. Please feel free to ask questions and point out the confusing parts.

Given the speed that things have been moving, I'm going to say May 15th-ish for the next release. We're planning on launching the currency for the next release (including siafunds), so there will be a lot of buzz and forewarning.

[Taek]

made the initial difficulty too high, we can't mine any blocks. I miscalculated, sorry. We'll have replacement binaries up shortly.