Is the light wallet offered in the same manor as the source for Graphene - available on github and with the same restrictions that "you need a license if you build a business using this"?
@Thom both Graphene and GUI (wallets) are free to use with BitShares blockchain, you don't need a special license for them.
The faucet server software used to power https://bitshares.openledger.info is not open sourced yet, if you considering to use it, please contact Cryptonomex.
Also FYI - we are working on a solution to support referrals in light wallets.
Thx val. BM helped clarify the distinctions related to light wallet and OL in today's mumble session. I think cass' reply confused me in the way he referred to the "graphene toolkit". It is exactly what I thought, the API(s) used to interface to the blockchain AND the wallet, which are built into the witness_node and cli_wallet binaries (and presumably into the javascript code dowloaded for OL wallet).
Regarding the distinction between OL and light wallet, the primary difference is in the mechanism used to instantiate the javascript code into a browser. In the case of OL it is stored on a central server and delivered to your favorite browser in the usual way across the Internet. The portion that represents my personal wallet data, accounts, keys, passwords etc are stored on my local machine in the form of cookies or cached & encrypted files. In the case of the so called "light" wallet the js code for the wallet GUI is bundled as part of the DOM / internal javascript code with the Chromium browser binary.
Given that the "light" wallet is an entire web browser the term "light" seems inappropriate. I fail to see what it is missing that makes it "lighter" than the OL wallet. It has to include the same API interfaces to post transactions and everything else. I can see no other distinction except in how the wallet js code is instantiated into the browser. Since the browser must access the blockchain through the Internet, it doesn't save the network layer. Again, what makes it "lighter" is the crux of mater. Just don't understand the reason for that terminology.
Regarding a "hosted wallet" or a scheme where user's wallet data is stored and protected by encryption on a central server, i.e. the portion that is currently stored as cookies or cache files on my local machine, such a scheme does not currently exist. I would imagine that is something CNX has been thinking about, but as yet has not been implemented or made available. BTW, I think the terminology of "hosted wallet" fits quite well for that scheme.
It may seem nit picky and that I'm too hung up on the "light" wallet label, but as you can see I'm detail oriented and due to the lack of descriptions for the various CNX offerings and the use cases they're intended to address, it can be confusing to understand and make sense of, especially when terms like "hosted wallet" are thrown about without setting the context it refers to something that doesn't yet exist or is not yet in use or deployed.
I appreciate you and BM taking the time to clarify these things.