Ripple Development - How is it financed? & other questions

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m1bxd

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Apr 3, 2008, 1:49:55 PM4/3/08
to Ripple users
Ryan,

How is the Ripple Development Financed?

How many developers work on it?

In theory would be be possible to deploy a Ripple server on a mobile
phone with a transaction database underneath which backed up your data
to your own server via a VPN connection?

What is the footprint of the system and can you see it being viable?

Cheers Mark

Ryan Fugger

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Apr 3, 2008, 2:07:52 PM4/3/08
to rippl...@googlegroups.com
On 4/3/08, m1bxd <m1...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> How is the Ripple Development Financed?

Self-financed, with limited help from a few generous donors.

>
> How many developers work on it?

Right now there are 3 developers working on various aspects of the project.

>
> In theory would be be possible to deploy a Ripple server on a mobile
> phone with a transaction database underneath which backed up your data
> to your own server via a VPN connection?

In theory, sure. In practice there would be a lot of barriers to this
with present technology, including mobile bandwidth and mobile
processor speed. And I don't see why, if you're storing all your data
on a data-center server, you don't just have that server do your
Ripple server processing in the first place and just access it using
your mobile as a client? That makes more sense to me. Your
suggestion would be kind of like running your web server on your
mobile and backing up all the data to the data center in real time...
It's usually a good idea to run your high-bandwidth, high-cpu-usage
servers where bandwidth and cpu time are cheap -- definitely not true
for your mobile :)

>
> What is the footprint of the system and can you see it being viable?

The footprint depends largely on your database setup. You could
probably get it running on a high-end mobile. But again, there's no
reason to.

Ryan

m1bxd

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Apr 8, 2008, 6:49:02 PM4/8/08
to Ripple users
On 3 Apr, 19:07, "Ryan Fugger" <rfug...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 4/3/08, m1bxd <m1...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > How is the Ripple Development Financed?
>
> Self-financed, with limited help from a few generous donors.
>
>
>
> > How many developers work on it?
>
> Right now there are 3 developers working on various aspects of the project.
>
>
>
> > In theory would be be possible to deploy a Ripple server on a mobile
> > phone with a transaction database underneath which backed up your data
> > to your own server via a VPN connection?
>
> In theory, sure. In practice there would be a lot of barriers to this
> with present technology, including mobile bandwidth and mobile
> processor speed. And I don't see why, if you're storing all your data
> on a data-center server, you don't just have that server do your
> Ripple server processing in the first place and just access it using
> your mobile as a client? That makes more sense to me. Your
> suggestion would be kind of like running your web server on your
> mobile and backing up all the data to the data center in real time...

yup

> It's usually a good idea to run your high-bandwidth, high-cpu-usage
> servers where bandwidth and cpu time are cheap -- definitely not true
> for your mobile :)
>
>
>
> > What is the footprint of the system and can you see it being viable?
>
> The footprint depends largely on your database setup. You could
> probably get it running on a high-end mobile. But again, there's no
> reason to.

hmm, I think it would be really neat for the following reason:

You could bluetooth or wifi between users where there no signal, then
your mobiles could re-sync the transactions to your own personal
backup servers somewhere on the Net when you get a signal again.

Total 3G coverage (GSM even) is going to take time. And I bet you get
a few people using Ripple before universal mobile coverage is a
reality!

Cheers Mark

Ryan Fugger

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Apr 8, 2008, 7:41:27 PM4/8/08
to rippl...@googlegroups.com
On 4/8/08, m1bxd <m1...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> hmm, I think it would be really neat for the following reason:
>
> You could bluetooth or wifi between users where there no signal, then
> your mobiles could re-sync the transactions to your own personal
> backup servers somewhere on the Net when you get a signal again.
>

OK, if you don't need the transaction cleared through the network, the
recipient can just store the payer's authorization until there's
connectivity and then commit the payment using only that. Of course,
there's no guarantee it's valid...

Ryan

m1bxd

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Apr 10, 2008, 8:50:38 AM4/10/08
to Ripple users
Ryan,

But if both parties are next to each other, isn't the transaction
valid between both parties?
Both mobile would be "servers" and connecting via wifi or bluetooth.

Sorry if I've misunderstood the protocol.

Many thanks for your continued replies on my line of thought!

Mark

Ryan Fugger

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Apr 10, 2008, 9:15:47 PM4/10/08
to rippl...@googlegroups.com
Yes, I think you've misunderstood. A Ripple "connection" isn't a
network connection between computers that you can pass data messages
over, but a trust connection between people or groups of people that
you can pass value over. A Ripple connection is and abstract
agreement that you form using an exchange of Ripple protocol messages
with someone you trust. If you don't know and trust the person next
to you to repay money -- no connection, sorry.

Ryan

Joshua Zeidner

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Apr 10, 2008, 9:21:26 PM4/10/08
to rippl...@googlegroups.com
On Thu, Apr 10, 2008 at 6:15 PM, Ryan Fugger <rfu...@gmail.com> wrote:

Yes, I think you've misunderstood.  A Ripple "connection" isn't a
network connection between computers that you can pass data messages
over, but a trust connection between people or groups of people that
you can pass value over.  A Ripple connection is and abstract
agreement that you form using an exchange of Ripple protocol messages
with someone you trust.  If you don't know and trust the person next
to you to repay money -- no connection, sorry.

   So basically, I have to 'apply for credit' to someone in the network?

  -jmz
 


Ryan

On 4/10/08, m1bxd <m1...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>  Ryan,
>
>  But if both parties are next to each other, isn't the transaction
>  valid between both parties?
>  Both mobile would be "servers" and connecting via wifi or bluetooth.
>
>  Sorry if I've misunderstood the protocol.
>
>  Many thanks for your continued replies on my line of thought!
>
>  Mark
>
>  On Apr 9, 12:41 am, "Ryan Fugger" <rfug...@gmail.com> wrote:
>  > On 4/8/08, m1bxd <m1...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  > >  hmm, I think it would be really neat for the following reason:
>  >
>  > >  You could bluetooth or wifi between users where there no signal, then
>  > >  your mobiles could re-sync the transactions to your own personal
>  > >  backup servers somewhere on the Net when you get a signal again.
>  >
>  > OK, if you don't need the transaction cleared through the network, the
>  > recipient can just store the payer's authorization until there's
>  > connectivity and then commit the payment using only that.  Of course,
>  > there's no guarantee it's valid...
>  >
>  > Ryan
>  >
>





--

- http://www.joshuazeidner.com/

Ryan Fugger

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Apr 10, 2008, 9:50:29 PM4/10/08
to rippl...@googlegroups.com
On 4/10/08, Joshua Zeidner <jjze...@gmail.com> wrote:
> So basically, I have to 'apply for credit' to someone in the network?

Well, the protocol treats it more like an acknowledgement that an
existing credit relationship, like a bank account, or a personal debt,
will be used to transmit payments as part of the Ripple network. It
does not address the formation of that relationship per se, whether it
be legal/formal, or friendly/informal. Ripple is not for making new
friends, for example, or joining new banks or community currencies.

Ryan

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