Nxt Core Dev Q&A 27-03-2016

Bas Wisselink [20:01]
@channel: We can get started with the second Q&A. Put your questions to the devs :simple_smile:

yassinnxt [20:01]
hi :simple_smile:

durerus [20:01]
How long will existing funds suffice for devs and tnnse?

Bas Wisselink [20:01]
@durerus: i can answer for TNNSE

[20:01]
The funds were meant for one year operations.

Lionel Jeannerat [20:02]
Hi

Bas Wisselink [20:02]
I think that at current speed they might last longer, but 1 year was the mandate

Dave Pearce [20:02]
the CFC funds will cover about another 12-18 months at current burn rates

[20:03]
and that is all (pretty much) going on devs, bounties and central community resources

Lyaffe [20:04]
@knuckle: regarding shuffling, if you shuffle with 4 others and your account was known, now to track you someone would have to track 5 accounts

Lionel Jeannerat [20:04]
Question : After the 2.0 fork, do you have some plan for public childchains?

Bas Wisselink [20:05]
Currently, CFC is paying stipends to Scripterron, several devs who do piece work (like Testdruif for his new client UI) and Riker monthly

[20:05]
CFC also pays for sites, certificates etc

Lionel Jeannerat [20:05]
What about a specific childchain for voting system?

Lyaffe [20:06]
@ludom: you should be able to create a new child chain and limit it to only allow voting transactions

durerus [20:06]
What is devs' and tnnse's opinion on fnxt distribution? 1:1 or IPO?

Lionel Jeannerat [20:07]
If I have some project for a child chain, but I have no technical skills for that, can we ask for help and how many it'll cost ?

[20:08]
(it could be me or other persons)

[20:08]
Do you think you can launch a help desk to launch childchains ?

Bas Wisselink [20:08]
@durerus: as far as I know (reading the forums) the distribution and IPO idea are seperate issues at this moment. The IPO was proposed by someone, but it was never an official proposal.

jean-luc [20:09]
it is too early to plan for help desk, of course when we get there support will have to deal with it too

[20:09]
at first we are likely to just have a few hardcoded child chains

Bas Wisselink [20:10]
I also want to stress that we as TNSSE are facilitating, and do not want to get involved in the decision. The only thing I can say is that I do think long term funding in general is an issue and that it needs to be addressed. As to the distribution scheme, that is up to the community.

Lionel Jeannerat [20:10]
I understand that is early, but my question was more "do you want to develop the childchain businesses and projects?" or it's only a new feature that the people can use or not (it's not dev's problem)

jean-luc [20:11]
whether to do an IPO is not a developers' decision either

Lionel Jeannerat [20:11]
What is this few hardcoded child chains ?

Dave Pearce [20:11]
My personal opinion on fNXT distro is that we need to keep discussing it, and figure out  a solution that benefits everyone. Nothing is yet set in stone

jean-luc [20:11]
I concur that funding is an issue, and IPO is one option to consider

[20:11]
we don't know yet

[20:11]
this is how software is developed

[20:12]
you can't have everything fully implemented at once

vanbreuk [20:12]
This is not strictly a question, but since everyone is here... a reminder that IPO/per NXT distribution are not necessarily mutually exclusive. You could distribute 1/2 fNXT supply to existing holders and expand through a partial IPO. But let us take back the topic in the forums, I don't want to derail the Q&A

durerus [20:13]
Will devs redistribute potential future income from IP rights to nxtholders by for example buying coins?
1

Lionel Jeannerat [20:13]
Nxt is for the moment the single childchain known for the 2.0 fork ?

Lyaffe [20:14]
@ludom: I believe the answer is yes. NXT is the only childchain planned for 2.0

Bas Wisselink [20:15]
@ludom: known yes, expected no

Lionel Jeannerat [20:15]
But we can prepare an IPO for a second childchain, it could be a good idea

[20:16]
Yes Nxt can do everything, but it can be a good idea to launch a second public childchain to recrute new users and collect some fresh money

Lyaffe [20:16]
@durerus: I don't know. This is a theoretical question at the moment. Its not simple to monetize the IP

Lionel Jeannerat [20:16]
For a specific proposition

Dave Pearce [20:17]
@durerus:  we (foundation/TNSSE) have discussed potential methods of feeding income based on IP licensing back into the community.  As riker says, it is tricky, but there will be  a way to do so, in that event. (edited)

petko [20:18]
https://nxtchat.slack.com/archives/general/p1459101902000817
So testdruif is reworkign the UI? That's interesting. Could you provide more details?
Bas Wisselink damelon
Currently, CFC is paying stipends to Scripterron, several devs who do piece work (like Testdruif for his new client UI) and Riker monthly
Today at 20:05

Testdruif [20:18]
I'm not reworking it

[20:18]
I'm just adding stuff here and there

jean-luc [20:19]
it is about adding enhancements

Bas Wisselink [20:19]
@lyaffe or @jean-luc should. CFC is just handling the request

petko [20:19]
aha ok

Bas Wisselink [20:19]
phrasing is so important. Sorry for the misunderstanding

durerus [20:20]
For how long will JL work for free as main dev?

jean-luc [20:20]
up to one more year

[20:20]
assuming nothing drastic happens

durerus [20:21]
So until 2.0?

jean-luc [20:21]
something like that

Lionel Jeannerat [20:21]
Question for Nxt Foundation: what do you think about the crowdfunding of @nxtchina? What about intergrate her in the foundation?

durerus [20:21]
On what it depend for you to continue after that?

jean-luc [20:22]
if the NXT value increases, if I believe there is a very good chance that 2.0 will be a significant success, and so on

[20:22]
a lot can change in crypto for one year

Dave Pearce [20:24]
Allwelder/NxtChina is already pretty much on board with the Foundation activities.......still, don't see why not. Expansion of the Foundation could be a good thing.

[20:25]
And, on NxtChina funding....it's  a good idea.

Bas Wisselink [20:25]
Allwelder has done good work. I've worked with her since the first marketing committee

Lionel Jeannerat [20:26]
I think, it could be good for her funding and for the Nxt communty to make something clean

Testdruif [20:26]
a quick question while I'm coding :simple_smile:
What timezone is nxt timestamp in? (utc, utc+1,..)

Dave Pearce [20:26]
Watch out for the trap of spending too much time on organising structures, though, instead of just getting work done.

jean-luc [20:27]
it is number of seconds since genesis block was created

Bas Wisselink [20:27]
I do feel the need to keep pointing out that the Foundation has never, ever been an organisation like the Bitcoin Foundation. It is solely meant, and has always been promoted as a point of contact for businesses because we felt that was needed

Lionel Jeannerat [20:27]
ok

Bas Wisselink [20:28]
The Foundation as we set it up is a means to an end for what we think is needed. It is entirely possible, and needed, that other structures that chase other interests are also set up

Dave Pearce [20:28]
And it's useful for admin stuff, like SSL certs, or hosting, to have a business entity to pay bills.
1

Bas Wisselink [20:29]
Indeed. There are many things that would be impossible without a legal entity

Lionel Jeannerat [20:30]
I have a important question from the side of the community. What can we do to help?

[20:31]
What can be very useful for Nxt in general?

Bas Wisselink [20:31]
But we do not work for "the stakeholders" and never have. Our work may be in their interest and we believe it is, but it was never set up to do that. Some whales support us, some don't. That's up to them. I also believe that for stakeholders to have two ways of influencing development (both by technology PoS ​*and*​ and organisation) is a Trojan horse
1

nxter [20:34]
It is said that Nxt 2.0 will only contain one hard-coded childchain. How long do you think it it will take from NXT 2.0 to when the creation of more childchains is released?

Lionel Jeannerat [20:34]
The problem of Nxt is the lack of transactions, but I feel very passive to change that

jean-luc [20:34]
no idea at this time

Lyaffe [20:35]
The creation process of a new child chain is quite complex, need it's transaction types

jean-luc [20:35]
for transactions, we need to have businesses using the blockchain

[20:36]
or at least accepting payments in nxt

Lionel Jeannerat [20:37]
Coinomat and SuperNET were good providers of transactions
1

Lyaffe [20:38]
Let's talk about the upcoming 1.8 release ?

[20:39]
We have a desktop wallet now, Mac installer is better, account monitor and now thanks to @testdruif we also have images in dgs

[20:39]
Questions ?

petko [20:39]
is 1.8 introducing a hard fork?

Testdruif [20:39]
and "goto page or modal" via url :wink:

jean-luc [20:39]
no fork

Lyaffe [20:40]
These are all business friendly features

[20:40]
Improved user experience
2

Mister Knuckle [20:40]
Mac installer is definitely better, that fills a gap, will make some users very happy

Dave Pearce [20:40]
and reduce the helpdesk workload.....:innocent:

durerus [20:41]
So for whome do you work if not for stakeholders @damelon ?
1

Bas Wisselink [20:41]
I would like to ask all Mac users to be as active in providing feedback as they can

Lyaffe [20:41]
@testdruif: also we can now link directly into a specific page and modal on the client wallet. Thanks for implementing this 6 month old bounty.
1

jean-luc [20:42]
btw, is there a way to generate automatically such link?

Lyaffe [20:43]
@jean-luc: not yet, need to think about it

jean-luc [20:43]
yeah, we need a "bookmark" or "link to this page" button accessible from everywhere

Bas Wisselink [20:43]
@durerus: We've always worked for Nxt as a platform. That includes the stakeholders, but it's done according to what we think is what it is useful for. If you look back, you will find that we've gone against the current stream sometimes. For instance, we started the image of Nxt as a modular system when people were only thinking of it as a currency. I still am glad that we went off that path.

durerus [20:44]
Good. Thx

Bas Wisselink [20:44]
My point is that we have always said we would choose our course based on our knowledge and what we hear from our contacts. Our contacts are rather broad, and we've gained them from attending conferences and speaking

[20:46]
Another thing the community can do for instance is just go out to meetups and talk to people. That really works. Our Wednesdays came out of that. We can help with providing material for presentations if people want to do them. Don't be shy. Get on stage and stutter if needed. That is the only way we will get a foot between the door in the end

[20:46]
Don't be shy is a good tip in general :simple_smile:

nxter [20:46]
What do the devs think about re-branding nxt?

Lyaffe [20:47]
@nxter: a lot of client side work, need a really good reason

jean-luc [20:47]
it is a marketing and legal issue, I don't like having to do it, but understand it may be necessary

Lyaffe [20:48]
Regarding transactions, do we now have less transactions then say BTS, NEM, EMERCOIN (whatever it is) ? Is it important ?

jean-luc [20:49]
something more concerning than transactions is that forging power is dropping, and number of nodes

Lionel Jeannerat [20:50]
Transactions is the sign that a blockchain is used

Lyaffe [20:50]
Are we losing forging power because it's not simple to forge ? to lease ? to run a node ?

Lionel Jeannerat [20:50]
The forging power goes down because you feel useless when you forge

[20:51]
I was a forger

jean-luc [20:51]
nothing has changed in the ease of forging or leasing

Lionel Jeannerat [20:51]
When I forged a block, I was happy when it wasn't a block with zero transactions

[20:52]
But it was rare

[20:52]
But now, I have no motivation to forge

Testdruif [20:52]
lease your balance to me ludom :wink:

Lionel Jeannerat [20:53]
Because my RasPi 1 is not anymore good enought to forge

[20:53]
and because I feel not so much useful to forge for so less transactions

Dave Pearce [20:53]
Yeah, the RaspPi one is no longer really Nxt capable....but lease!

Lionel Jeannerat [20:55]
Lease to which account?

Lyaffe [20:55]
I'm trying to understand this, some guys come up with some crazy idea about a new blockchain and are able to raise 5M$ from you guys. And we have here a fully functional blockchain ready for use and a good scaling solution and this is the reason to stop forging ?
1

[20:56]
Of course a blockchain that was never issued does not have backward compatibility problems.

jean-luc [20:56]
working software is boring
1

2615peter [20:56]
I don't know who he raised 5M$ from, but I don't think it was 100% nxtforum community :smile:

Lionel Jeannerat [20:56]
Right peter

[20:56]
:smile:

jean-luc [20:56]
I assume riker meant Lisk

Lyaffe [20:57]
Yes Lisk, I bet that a significant amount he raised came from this community

Lionel Jeannerat [20:57]
Where can I find a list of forging pools (charity pools are ok for me)

2615peter [20:57]
people like promises... they can project any dreams into promises

nxter [20:58]
are the mission and vision statements of nxt known and published somewhere?

jean-luc [20:58]
do we currently have functioning forging pools?

Testdruif [20:58]
@ludom http://pool.nxtcrypto.org/

Bas Wisselink [20:58]
nxtcrypto and Dave's pools are active

jean-luc [20:58]
that reminds me of another issue, services like peerexplorer shutting down, this is what funding is needed for

Dave Pearce [20:59]
Mine is more a node, and does not pay out. Forging income goes mostly to faucets and other useful projects. (edited)

jean-luc [20:59]
to keep useful websites alive and up to date

Bas Wisselink [20:59]
Peerexplorer is already taken care of

[20:59]
We've funded it

[20:59]
:simple_smile:

[20:59]
Well, CFC did

jean-luc [20:59]
I know, but an example of what we need money for, not just paying devs

Dave Pearce [20:59]
Well, almost...still need to actually hand Crimi the cash, but it is covered.

jean-luc [21:00]
and then, third party projects like lite clients, mobile wallets, that just get abandoned

2615peter [21:01]
since I don't use NXT as a coin, I myself don't need a (mobile) 'wallet' atm :wink:

Lyaffe [21:01]
Lisk raised 5M$ and we need to work a full year with less 80K$ it's unbelievable. Imagine what we can do with 500K

Dave Pearce [21:02]
:innocent:

Lionel Jeannerat [21:02]
SuperNET made great third projects for Nxt

jean-luc [21:02]
I have some ideas to make NRS also usable as light client for 1.9, because now we see that if it is not in the NRS, such projects don't last

[21:02]
but we can't stuff everything into the NRS

Lionel Jeannerat [21:03]
The SuperNET lite wallet is great

nxter [21:03]
The main problem is to trust your pasword to other clients other than the NRS

jean-luc [21:04]
how long will it stay up to date? without funding, depends on the good will and spare time of the developer

Martijn Buurman [21:04]
joined #general

jean-luc [21:04]
but bitcoin has many wallets, not just bitcoin-qt

Bas Wisselink [21:04]
I think this is a point that needs to be stressed. We have a working platform that was made by talented people who as good as volunteered. We started with 21 BTC and are now still worth 8 million. That is, if we are completely honest, a big accomplishment. We also had a fractured community fighting over funds for a long time and were lucky to be able to consolidate the community funds at some point last year. Dave and I managed to get a further donation for us to keep working, based on our track record. We also have a community that is highly divided into whether we should even work in or outside of real world business. Overall, given all that, it's a miracle that we managed all this and I think that also needs to be acknowledged

jean-luc [21:04]
long term, you start trusting other devs too

2615peter [21:05]
and a nice new website :simple_smile:

Bas Wisselink [21:05]
There is a tendency to be very negative, but given what we all know about our history over the last 2 years, well damnit, we survived a pile of stuff a normal company would have crumpled under.

Testdruif [21:06]
if I can figure out how to create the broadcast transaction data a lite wallet is only moments away (for sending and receiving nxt + messages)

2615peter [21:06]
yep, if you would just imagine there's no such thing as a CMC-website...

Testdruif [21:06]
it's still on my to do list :disappointed:

Bas Wisselink [21:06]
Starting from that, it's sometimes hard to see so many people looking for the negatives and not what we have and pick it up and run with it. There is no one stopping anyone building

[21:07]
I sometimes am surprised when people ask me if they should do something: just do it!

[21:07]
Didn't mean to go off on a rant, but I did anyway :stuck_out_tongue:

Bas Wisselink [21:07]
gets coat

2615peter [21:07]
(fast show)

Bas Wisselink [21:07]
(yes)

nxter [21:08]
I asked this question before but did not get answer:  "are the mission and vision statements of nxt known and published somewhere?"  does it mean nxt do not have clear mission and vision statements?

Lyaffe [21:09]
I guess we had the BCNext roadmap. Now we just set the roadmap ourselves.

2615peter [21:09]
NXT, the currency, gives its users complete financial freedom.
Nxt, the application platform, gives its users complete freedom to create.
1

Lyaffe [21:10]
Up to now it was all about features. With the 2.0 release it's all about scaling.

2615peter [21:11]
scaling is hard to sell... because it's not a problem today

Lyaffe [21:11]
It's a problem for Bitcoin not for NXT

2615peter [21:12]
http://www.coinfox.info/news/5171-ethereum-founder-now-we-can-scale-the-system (edited)

Bas Wisselink [21:12]
We already went over 60 minutes today :simple_smile:

[21:12]
I'd like to propose to do this again next week