New bitcoin.org Clients page

[BitPay Business Solutions]

I had organized the clients into a similar table a few months ago, with something simple designed for the first-time user.

http://lovebitcoins.org/getStarted.html

I wanted to put more emphasis on the mobile clients, because this is much easier and faster for a first-time user to get up and running.  This is especially true whenever I meet someone in person, since they always have their phone, but they never have a computer.

If the newbie likes what they see in the mobile, they can always become more of a power user. 

+1

Only problem with this, is that they are not as secure.
That should be fine if it could be pointed out in a way that doesn´t sound to intimidating.

Good point.  The average newbie starts with $5-$20, so for learning how wallets and addresses work, its perfect. 

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[unclescrooge]

I can picture less computer savvy people being turned off by Luke's table because they wouldn't know what 1/2 the columns mean and whether they are important.  I personally prefer it, but I agree with the suggestion that it should be on a separate "compare clients" page, or on the same page but below the screenshot & summary descriptions.

People tend to have very short attention spans when they are searching for a download link.  It might be helpful to order the clients by ease of use, starting with the most general/friendly clients and progressing towards the advanced/resource intensive clients.  I think it is safe to assume that advanced users already know what they want, so there is no need to cater to them on a page that is intended for everyone.

+1

And to add my 2 btcents to the topic, easy of install is really important. As much as I liked the concept beside Electrum, I was turned off immediately by the install page for linux... and never installed it.

Really, as a user, I want as few clicks and texts as possible. That's stupid, but we want to make bitcoins as user-riendly as possible.

[jgarzik]

Personally, all this seems far too focused on a centralized website (http://bitcoin.org/), and presents far too many choices at once to the user.

On bitcoin.org (registered by Satoshi), I would rather see the Satoshi reference client and perhaps an "other clients" link on the wiki.

Modern websites are working hard to reduce the number of download links, not increase them.  See, e.g. http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora or http://www.mozilla.org/ where a single download choice is presented, and then an "other options" link is below the great big download button.

You don't see people calling for Mozilla to link to other browsers.  Rather than fighting over what a particular bitcoin.org page should look like, why not maintain an independently managed BitcoinClients.org website?  Or GetBitcoinClient.org or somesuch.

Most of all, solve this problem in a distributed fashion, rather than stuffing it all onto bitcoin.org.  Bitcoin.org, IMO, is the home of the "reference project" not the entire bitcoin community.  Emphasizing that months ago was why the forum was moved to bitcointalk.org.

[BitPay Business Solutions]

Solve this problem in a distributed fashion, rather than stuffing it all onto bitcoin.org.  Bitcoin.org, IMO, is the home of the "reference project" not the entire bitcoin community.  Emphasizing that months ago was why the forum was moved to bitcointalk.org.

This page works, I can update it with mouse over descriptions and stuff.  It's quick and to the point.

http://lovebitcoins.org/getStarted.html

It will be getting ALOT of traffic very soon.

[Luke-Jr]

On bitcoin.org (registered by Satoshi), I would rather see the Satoshi reference client and perhaps an "other clients" link on the wiki.

Bitcoin.org is naturally "default" no matter what anyone does/says. Giving a few clients priority just because they were based on Satoshi's original code just makes Bitcoin more centralized. Bitcoin.org should either have a directory of clients, or none at all. Gavin mentioned the latter as his goal (comparing it to BitTorrent.org), but I think at this stage, people will get lost if they can't find anywhere to go for a client on Bitcoin.org...

You don't see people calling for Mozilla to link to other browsers.  Rather than fighting over what a particular bitcoin.org page should look like, why not maintain an independently managed BitcoinClients.org website?  Or GetBitcoinClient.org or somesuch.

Most of all, solve this problem in a distributed fashion, rather than stuffing it all onto bitcoin.org.  Bitcoin.org, IMO, is the home of the "reference project" not the entire bitcoin community.  Emphasizing that months ago was why the forum was moved to bitcointalk.org.

If anything, this "reference project" should move off Bitcoin.org, to a site of its own, just like BitcoinTalk.

[Mike Hearn]

It's a fair point that even having multiple clients could be a bit overwhelming, but people read about Bitcoin in the news, they search for Bitcoin on their favourite search engine, it'll take them to bitcoin.org. If they can't find a good client there they'll just assume there are none.

If the Satoshi client was completely satisfactory to everyone it might not be a big deal, but for performance/features/other reasons it seems that multiple desktop clients are here to stay. Not to mention that Satoshis code would need a lot of work to run well on mobiles, so there'd need to be at least a page for them.

It's probably best to just accept the situation as non-ideal and muddle through as best we can.

[Jan]

It's a fair point that even having multiple clients could be a bit overwhelming, but people read about Bitcoin in the news, they search for Bitcoin on their favourite search engine, it'll take them to bitcoin.org. If they can't find a good client there they'll just assume there are none.

I totally agree.
When someone wants to try out "this bitcoin thing they just heard about" they are not going to jump through a lot of hoops to get going. We have a few minutes (at best) to let them install and run the software. It is all about eliminating barriers of entry. Once a new user has tried out a "simple wallet" and had their first success with Bitcoin they will start looking for more advanced stuff.

However, as we have learned from MyBitcoin (and others), we cannot and should not place too much trust in centralized services. The temptation is simply too big when dealing with something that represents real value.
Fortunately the community has developed an impressive number of alternative clients that are swift to install and easy to use. Among those swift'n'easy wallets we should promote the ones where the user does not risk another MyBitcoin (god forbid).

Oh, did I mention that BitcoinSpinner for Android installs and is operational in less than a minute and keeps your private key on your device. It was designed with the above in mind from scratch. It does rely on a central server to send/receive coins, but you can always evacuate your private key independent of the server and import it in for instance MultiBit. (yes, I am the main dev of BitcoinSpinner)

Blockchain.info has similar offerings for Web/Android/iPhone and looks very promising.

If the Satoshi client was completely satisfactory to everyone it might not be a big deal, but for performance/features/other reasons it seems that multiple desktop clients are here to stay. Not to mention that Satoshis code would need a lot of work to run well on mobiles, so there'd need to be at least a page for them.

+1

Simply put I think we should have:
1. a platform chooser: (Windows/Linux/Android/iPhone)
2. a simple question: Are you new to Bitcoin?

[phelix]

is the table still available somewhere? the page as it is now is not in my taste. <choking down evil rant>

maybe the comparison table should go into the wiki and a link to the comparison should be at the top of the bitcoin.org clients page.

[rjk]

is the table still available somewhere? the page as it is now is not in my taste. <choking down evil rant>

maybe the comparison table should go into the wiki and a link to the comparison should be at the top of the bitcoin.org clients page.

+1. Luke's table should be linked somewhere on the page.

[phelix]

much better: http://dre.tx0.org/compare.htm (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=83768)

link from bitcoin.org?

[flatfly]

much better: http://dre.tx0.org/compare.htm (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=83768)

link from bitcoin.org?

Glad you like it!
 
But I believe genjix is quite focused on the Bitcoinica issue at this time (which is fully understandable).