new iPhone app screenshots + smart contracts complete!

[f3llowtraveler]

Hi all!

It is I, your good buddy Fellow Traveler, with some Open-Transactions news...

IN THIS ISSUE:

--- Monetas iPhone app (Screenshots!)

--- HUGE progress on OT's SMART CONTRACTS!

--- Many questions answered in recent Reddit thread.

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First, I'd like to direct your attention to a recent Reddit thread about Open-Transactions.

A lot of questions are answered in there, so you guys might find it interesting:

"Anyone that has read about OpenTransactions got the feeling this could be the next big thing, and a huge boost to Bitcoin?"

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1e3s82/anyone_that_has_read_about_opentransactions_got/

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iPHONE APP!

I thought you guys might like to see a sneak-peek at the up-and-coming ***iPhone app*** for Open-Transactions, from Monetas:

http://ft.vm.to/files/screenshots/

Sweet, eh? (Not done yet, but getting close.)

==> You may have heard people refer to OT as overly-complicated...

...But they're behind the times! Since the high-level API "OTMadeEasy" was released, most financial actions can now be performed with a single line of code. (See the demo programs provided in php, python, csharp, java, etc.)

==> You may also have heard naysayervers derisively scoff that OT is difficult-to-use...

...But now with the new iPhone and Android apps nearing completion, such talk is quickly becoming an artifact of the past. (Please be sure to educate the misinformed, whenever you encounter them.)

Indeed, I already gave a little time -- a headstart -- to other developers, over the past few years -- an opportunity to create GUI user apps of their own, before moving on it myself.

...But the headstart is now over! (For user apps, anyway.)

Of course, just _using_ OT in your own projects, will still give you a _huge_ headstart, vs re-inventing the wheel. And there are so many other things which could be built, beyond mere user apps.

(The real vision is RESOURCE ALLOCATION amongst cloud APIs.)

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QUESTION:  Is Monetas a commercial version of OT?

===> NO... But Monetas will sell commercial software built _using_ the OT library.

===> (Such as the iPhone app.)

===> To be clear: Open-Transactions is an open-source platform, period. 

===> Monetas, on the other hand, is building commercial software that runs on _top_ of the OT open-source platform...

===> ...an iPhone app, an Android app, a Systray app (with plugins for Chrome, Firefox, Skype, etc.) Voting pools, scalable architecture, etc.

===> Another way of looking at it: Open-Transactions is built to make financial transactions easy for PROGRAMMERS...

===> ...Whereas Monetas aims to make OT easy for USERS by providing user apps, and for the ENTERPRISE by providing additional architecture.

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*** Progress on SMART CONTRACTS ***

I'm really excited about this one!

While OT has had smart contracts for a while now, the API didn't expose enough of the functionality to make them useful, beyond a proof-of-concept. For example, it was previously impossible to create smart contracts, or sign them, or activate them, without having to first write a special custom script for _each_ of those steps   :-(

But that has all changed! Over the past few months, A LOT OF WORK has gone into exposing more and more of the smart contracts functionality through the API, enabling us to update the OT tools considerably...

===> You're wondering: WHAT exactly are the new CAPABILITIES?

In a nutshell:

1. Smart contract _templates_ are now fully-functional.

2. The 'opentxs confirm' and 'opentxs propose' commands are now fully-functional!

3. Special 'smartcontract.ot' tool for viewing/editing the templates -- fully-functional!

In greater detail:

EASILY **CREATE AND RE-USE** SMART CONTRACTS

--- There is a special script that allows you to CREATE your own smart contracts. (It's called smartcontract.ot) When you run smartcontract.ot, you can dynamically construct your own smart contracts--defining the parties, the bylaws, the clauses, the agents, etc.

--- This creates a smart contract TEMPLATE. That is, a pre-made template which can easily be re-used many times by different groups of parties. The idea is that the "lawyers" among you can design smart contracts, which many other people can then easily use.

--- (FYI, the smartcontract.ot tool can also be used to load/view existing templates, so you can explore other people's smart contracts dynamically and see all their parts.)

--- A few PRE-MADE templates are bundled with OT, including ***Escrow with Arbitration.***

EASILY **SIGN AND ACTIVATE** SMART CONTRACTS (brand new!)

--- New command-line options have been added to make this functionality easily accessible. For example, you can now use the 'opentxs confirm' command to sign onto a smart contract, which is then automatically sent on to the next party (appearing in his inbox) so he can sign it too, and sends it on to the next party, etc, until the last party ACTIVATES IT to start processing!

--- As a result of this, the scripts/smartcontracts/escrow folder is now EMPTY except for the escrow template itself!  All the supporting scripts have now been erased -- they're simply not needed anymore. Just use smartcontract.ot to view/edit, and use 'opentxs confirm' to sign/activate.

--- Open-Transactions now automates all the work of placing these contracts in your outbox, and in your recipient's inbox, and sending the appropriate notices when the agreements are activated (or when they fail to activate.)

--- Payment plans (recurring payments) are now fully-functional as well. You can create them using the 'opentxs propose' command, and sign/activate using 'opentxs confirm'. They work similarly to the smart contracts. (Inbox, outbox, notifications to all parties, etc.)

--- This means we can FINALLY add smart contracts AND payment plans into the Moneychanger test GUI. Huzzah! (So that's coming soon.) In the meantime, enjoy the new command-line tools!

There's more, but I don't want to overload you guys, so I'll save it for my next announcement (coming soon.)

Your friend,

Fellow Traveler

P.S. BTC donation address: 1NtTPVVjDsUfDWybS4BwvHpG2pdS9RnYyQ

All donations will be re-donated to people in the open-source community who work on OT, to reward them for their hard work. Special shout-outs to randy-waterhouse, da2ce7, knotwork, BlueWall, and others.

P.P.S. Anyone interested in the commercial side (Monetas) please contact joh...@monetas.net