Author Topic: What Is Bitshares? A Financial OS.  (Read 7462 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline toast

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4001
    • View Profile
  • BitShares: nikolai
The operating system analogy will be much better once there is any kind of onchain scripting. Ethereum is the only working thing that looks anything like an OS, maybe codius
Do not use this post as information for making any important decisions. The only agreements I ever make are informal and non-binding. Take the same precautions as when dealing with a compromised account, scammer, sockpuppet, etc.

Offline Pheonike


The Bitshares Business platform contains the following features,

 Hetero-CurrencyOS engine
 Value-Protection VM
 Trade-Engine with stock market drivers included
 Dynamically delegated Resource management module
 Error Checking and Correction (ECC) expenses management subsystem
 Plugin Architecture for future expansion.







Offline valzav

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 294
    • View Profile
I like to see BitShares as a platform for smart contracts. So OS metaphor works pretty well here, but it's not necessary have to be narrowed down to financial applications.

I definitely see your point. Why limit Bitshares to a single niche? But is it really wise to attempt creating an OS that does everything or is it better to focus on a niche? If Bitshares were architected from the ground up to cater toward finance, I think that would offer us a significant competitive advantage.

I agree focusing on a single niche has a lot of benefits.

So what do you think about "platform"? In a lot of cases it's used as synonym to OS. If you followed startup ecosystem, there were a lot of debates - platform vs. product vs service, and it looks like platform is investors' favorite. Look at biggest companies (e.g. Google, Facebook, Microsoft) they all try to position themselves as platform.

Another reason I like word platform over OS is because OS sounds a little bit as closed ecosystem and platform is an open one.

Nonetheless OS is a good metaphor. I believe inability to explain what is Bitshares (e.g. "BitShares has layers" http://bytemaster.bitshares.org/update/2014/12/18/What-is-BitShares/  was a good but not successful attempt) made it really hard to market and good metaphor can really help to solve this issue.




Offline nicejeans

When you download bitshares, you're basically creating an online bank for yourself. You have complete control over your money, including the ability to accrue interest (unlike the money under your mattress). You can diversify your savings into different forms of value (bitUSD, bitCNY, bitGold, etc...) by interacting with the other banks that are a part of the co-op. You can invest in stocks and short assets too. But you still maintain control of your value at all times, and you can transfer your value instantly without large fees. Software takes the place of the banking institution. You can forget about the value being sucked out of you and the economy at large by preying governments, greedy executives, profit over value shareholders, and general human error. You worked hard for your money, why should someone else have any control over it?

Questions?
Operation Onramp

Offline xeroc

  • Board Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 12922
  • ChainSquad GmbH
    • View Profile
    • ChainSquad GmbH
  • BitShares: xeroc
  • GitHub: xeroc
Bitshares the BusinessOS.  Just add some ERP,CRM, and SAP modules.
Hodor ... ehm .. odoo?

Xeldal

  • Guest
I feel like I'm saying the same things everyone else has said time and time again but here's my attempt to draw it a little closer to an OS.

BitShares is an operating system for the transfer/control/manipulation of value based objects in a manner that is not subject to corruption or coercion. 

The current OS, for value objects, can take days to weeks to process a simple instruction.  It relies heavily on manual human effort which leads to very slow speeds, easily corruptible, lost, or manipulated data, and very high maintenance costs.  Most operations pass through a central authority that can arbitrarily block and or restrict its use.  Use of the system is not available to most people, even in the most developed, technology rich areas. 

In contrast, BitShares is available to anyone with access to even the most basic technology.  Its use cannot be restricted and operations are not centrally controlled by anyone.  Processing instructions is distributed across the globe and relies on almost no human interaction which eliminates most, if not all, cases of corruptible, lost, or abused data.  Instructions are processed in seconds rather than days/weeks.

The BitShares OS can be used for any purpose whatsoever and makes no attempt to restrict or deny access to its operations network.


Offline fav

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4278
  • No Pain, No Gain
    • View Profile
    • Follow Me!
  • BitShares: fav

Offline Akado

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2752
    • View Profile
  • BitShares: akado
P2P  FOREX / COMEX

Here, ELI5 to these guys:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1078009.0;all

I don't think these threads are a good idea, they're seen as biased from the beginning and btt's community sucks so, not a good mix.

I think we all need a crypto forum for 2.0 stuff, with better rules (i.e no selling accounts, ads, etc), where we could have a civilized debate. Does anyone know of something like that?
https://metaexchange.info | Bitcoin<->Altcoin exchange | Instant | Safe | Low spreads

Offline Thom

A metaphor is an important tool used to convey complicated ideas to the general public. Since the beginning of Bitcoin (and especially Bitshares) we've had a very hard time coming up with a simple way to convey the core essence of what is being created here. Is it a company, community, bank or a government? The truth is, Bitshares has the potential to be all of these things. So what do all of these things have in common? What is their essence?

ANSWER: They can all be described as types of operating systems.

I'd like to conduct a fun little experiment. Pretend like you're chatting with a relatively tech savvy person and he asks you "what is bitshares?" In your own words, describe Bitshares using the FinancialOS metaphor as your foundation.

Stan is probably got the best answer, it depends on what works best for your target audience.

Your ANSWER is lost on the audience you defined in your first sentence. I interface with the general public as a computer expert offering tech services and training in my local community. I can tell you that even those at the 90th percentile of tech knowledge around here don't grasp what an operating system does, anymore than a typical housewife understands the role of an air conditioning compressor in her car or home.

"Tech Savvy" is actually a fairly broad term. To all but a very, very small few members of this community, "operating system" is a highly descriptive analogy, a metaphor that fits well.

The key to using any analogy is it's suitability to the target audience. I have had to explain computer issues to a very wide range of people, and when I do I often have to find the right analogy until I see the light bulb go on over their head. Car analogies work well with most men, but for women it's much harder to come up with common examples of systems they are familiar with. If car / mechanical analogies don't click with them, I usually think about churches, institutions or some type of group organization and the control points in them and how things get done or resources managed. Things work well for men, groups work better for women.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere - MLK |  Verbaltech2 Witness Reports: https://bitsharestalk.org/index.php/topic,23902.0.html

Offline Method-X

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1131
  • VIRAL
    • View Profile
    • Learn to code
  • BitShares: methodx


Bitshares the BusinessOS.  Just add some ERP,CRM, and SAP modules.

bOS. Nice.

Offline Pheonike



Bitshares the BusinessOS.  Just add some ERP,CRM, and SAP modules.

Offline maqifrnswa

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 661
    • View Profile
+5
good analogy. Especially once scripting come to fruition
maintains an Ubuntu PPA: https://launchpad.net/~showard314/+archive/ubuntu/bitshares [15% delegate] wallet_account_set_approval maqifrnswa true [50% delegate] wallet_account_set_approval delegate1.maqifrnswa true

Offline mf-tzo

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1725
    • View Profile
Bitshares is a decentralised derivative exchange that one can trade / obtain internet money that have stable value like euro and usd. The biggest advantage of this exchange is that no government or bank can ever seize your euro or usd balance.

So Bitshares is the bank of the people for the people!
You hold the keys of the castle.
It is the small firework that will make a big Boom and change the world as we know it.

« Last Edit: June 02, 2015, 05:42:59 pm by mf-tzo »

Offline Stan

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2908
  • You need to think BIGGER, Pinky...
    • View Profile
    • Cryptonomex
  • BitShares: Stan
Ooooh!  Metaphors!   :D

Bytemaster managed to use 10 metaphors in one blog article.  I think you may need that many -- like blind men describing an elephant.

I once used the OS metaphor here:

The Origin of BitShares
Part 9
What is a SuperDAC?


Quote
SuperDAC - noun - soup-er-dak
A Decentralized Autonomous Company (DAC) providing common services that support layering of other DAC business models onto a common public ledger for the sake of shared network effect.
The need to merge our various DACs into a single "SuperDAC" was based on the realization that they all needed a whole bunch of common services that are much less effective if they aren't common services:
  • A unified basket of stable, robust global currencies (bitAssets)
  • A unified set of well compensated, best-of-breed delegates.
  • A unified name system.
  • A unified secure messaging system.
  • A unified set of on and off ramps - portals to the fiat world.
  • A unified marketing message.
  • A unified consensus-based governing system.
  • A unified family of tools and wallets.
  • A unified way for newcomers to make instant friends with everyone already there.
  • A built-in venture capital system where you can compete for start-up funds - democratically.
New business developers (DAC engineers) shouldn't want to reinvent these things any more than I would want to reinvent my computer's device drivers and operating system.  And what sense would it make to have different competing operating systems, each with a subset of drivers and services?

Gee, I sure wish I could go back in time and invest in MS-DOS. 
Rats. 
An opportunity like that will never come around again.

BitShares took the whole ecosystem into one DAC friendly free-trade zone with all the services that benefit from network effect already in place.

Any developer who wants to build a business would be crazy to stay on the outside and try to replicate that.  Even if they can pick up the toolkit and get all the functions - the network effect doesn't come with the toolkit!  You get that by joining the club.  You still run your own business with its own custom storefront and Internet presence.  You just skipped a year or two of trying to get traffic to stop by!


We generally think that people will wrap the blockchain with many different "skins" that make it look like a wallet, or an exchange, or a store, or a voting booth, or....
« Last Edit: June 02, 2015, 05:26:11 pm by Stan »
Anything said on these forums does not constitute an intent to create a legal obligation or contract of any kind.   These are merely my opinions which I reserve the right to change at any time.