Roadmap to 1.0?

[impulse]

I'm just curious if there is a roadmap anywhere to version 1.0? What are the "must-have" features for a 1.0 release? Are we likely to see a 1.0 release within the next year? Two? More? I assume the next major release will be 0.7, we'll be running out of 0.x headroom pretty soon

[gweedo]

The major feature of 1.0 release is that it is "so easy that your grandma can use bitcoins"

[Realpra]

1. It will take at least 3 years.
2. Scalability issues will have to be solved one way or the other.
3. Public key encryption of commuications between nodes needs to be added. Nodes will know each other only by public key. (prevents node fooling by connection manipulation).
4. The user should have the ability to specify the number of decimals so that satoshis are not the smallest unit.
5. The cryptographic algorithm used might need updating to prevent quantum computer related problems.
EDIT 6. The max blocksize not ignored should be settable by the miners/users, an equilibrium standard should form and evolve from then on.

4/5 are no rush

[Gavin Andresen]

The things on my "good enough to be called 1.0" list are:

+ easy enough for my grandma to use
+ secure enough that it'd be hard for my grandma to lose her bitcoins, even if her computer is infected by 11 bitcoin-stealing trojans and then catches fire and explodes.
+ past the December block-reward-drops-to-25

[SgtSpike]

The things on my "good enough to be called 1.0" list are:

+ easy enough for my grandma to use
+ secure enough that it'd be hard for my grandma to lose her bitcoins, even if her computer is infected by 11 bitcoin-stealing trojans and then catches fire and explodes.
+ past the December block-reward-drops-to-25

Does the grandma use include "scalable enough to fit on grandma's 40GB Dell hard drive"?

[nedbert9]

The things on my "good enough to be called 1.0" list are:

+ easy enough for my grandma to use
+ secure enough that it'd be hard for my grandma to lose her bitcoins, even if her computer is infected by 11 bitcoin-stealing trojans and then catches fire and explodes.
+ past the December block-reward-drops-to-25

Does the grandma use include "scalable enough to fit on grandma's 40GB Dell hard drive"?

zing...

[Gavin Andresen]

I'll buy my grandma a terabyte drive for Christmas.

No, seriously, a better startup experience is part of "easy to use" -- waiting hours for the blockchain to sync sucks.

[FreeMoney]

I'll buy my grandma a terabyte drive for Christmas.

No, seriously, a better startup experience is part of "easy to use" -- waiting hours for the blockchain to sync sucks.

'Official' lite client at some point?

[SgtSpike]

I'll buy my grandma a terabyte drive for Christmas.

No, seriously, a better startup experience is part of "easy to use" -- waiting hours for the blockchain to sync sucks.

Roger that. 

[bigbeninlondon]

'Official' lite client at some point?

This

[grondilu]

+ past the December block-reward-drops-to-25

 

I'm kind of surprised that even Gavin worries a bit about this.

[ripper234]

+ past the December block-reward-drops-to-25

 

I'm kind of surprised that even Gavin worries a bit about this.

It's not that he worries, it's just something that we need to prove as working in production.
There's a difference between testing something in a lab (testnet) and making it work in production ... we need to get this level of confidence.

[grondilu]

+ past the December block-reward-drops-to-25

 

I'm kind of surprised that even Gavin worries a bit about this.

It's not that he worries, it's just something that we need to prove as working in production.
There's a difference between testing something in a lab (testnet) and making it work in production ... we need to get this level of confidence.

Indeed.

[mc_lovin]

I'll buy my grandma a terabyte drive for Christmas.

Hopefully the blockchain won't eat up that terabyte!    jk

I can't immediately think of anything that should be included in the 1.0 release, but I have a comment..  In the "about" page on the satoshi client, it says "This is expiremental software."  Is that going to stay there forever or will it be removed one day?

[grondilu]

I'll buy my grandma a terabyte drive for Christmas.

No, seriously, a better startup experience is part of "easy to use" -- waiting hours for the blockchain to sync sucks.

By the way, is there any plan to implement a "header-only" mode on the main client, as Satoshi described it in his white paper?

PS.  sorry I realize it has been discussed already.

[gmaxwell]

By the way, is there any plan to implement a "header-only" mode on the main client, as Satoshi described it in his white paper?

People are working on something better than that which won't compromise a node's ability to function as an autonomous fully validating node but will still make things much faster and use less storage.

More important than supporting header only (SPV) mode, but rather the ability to start as a SPV node and sync-up and transition in the background.  But this isn't yet in the immediate pipeline.

[dacoinminster]

The things on my "good enough to be called 1.0" list are:

+ easy enough for my grandma to use
+ secure enough that it'd be hard for my grandma to lose her bitcoins, even if her computer is infected by 11 bitcoin-stealing trojans and then catches fire and explodes.
+ past the December block-reward-drops-to-25

Heh. That's on my list too:



(From my Using Memes to Explain Bitcoin)

[fivebells]

+ secure enough that it'd be hard for my grandma to lose her bitcoins, even if her computer is infected by 11 bitcoin-stealing trojans and then catches fire and explodes.

I'd be really interested to read any existing discussions about how to reach that level of security.  Does it need specialized hardware or a centralised backup system?  (I know about multisig and how that would help, but it seems as though for that to be effective you would still need a trusted place to stand.)

[maaku]

There was talk about using TPM modules to firewall access to private keys. That would help significantly, but I don't think this has advanced to an actual proposal yet.

[Mike Hearn]

I think we can get there by supporting 2-factor coins (computer+phone both sign transactions), real world identities for merchants (EV SSL cert signs an assertion of ownership of a Bitcoin key), paper backups of wallets and so on. No hardware needed beyond a smart phone.

I was the one who proposed using TPMs and secure CPU extensions for protection of private keys. The technology is sufficiently specialized that I don't anticipate regular end users having access to it any time soon. Merchants and exchange operators, on the other hand, could well benefit, but the expertise needed to produce such a solution is rare.