Is Bitshares attempting to get on Microsoft Azure?

[openledger]

make sure to get noticed, start sending bts to all microsoft decision makers telling them thats only the beginning

collaterized assets shared via twitter using www.sharebits.io

which better way to get noticed showing value and whats possible in 3 seconds

[Erlich Bachman]

We are the 6th oldest crypto in the top 10

[Empirical1.2]

The BitShares blockchain is a Financial Services platform for SmartCoins coupled with a decentralized asset exchange. SmartCoins are price-stable digital assets pegged to the current value of various currencies, commodities, stocks and other financial instruments.  The BitShares blockchain “witnesses” public data from world financial markets to “publish” pricing information to the decentralized asset exchange.  Markets are made and the blockchain enforces all SmartCoin parameters and transactions.  The industrial-grade blockchain is currently operating at a 3-second block interval with peaks to thousands of transaction per second. BitShares is delivering today on the promises of blockchain functionality, scalability and speed.  Spin up an Ubuntu VM with the software to get connected in about 15 minutes.

Sounds good. 

  Looks pretty good.

I like this, but fear that we need to be very careful promoting something that as yet is not proven to be perfectly pegged.

I would appreciate a comment from CNX on the overall message to would-be BaaS users. @Stan @bytemaster or others care to contribute their desires related to this initiative? 

I hope you get some feedback from Stan/BM. Regards Price Stable crypto-currencies, they're BTS's best innovation imo & have been in circulation, fully collateralised and pegged to their real world counterparts for over 20 months. They're also the number one feature we promote on BitShares.org so we should definitely proudly promote them. https://bitshares.org/technology/price-stable-cryptocurrencies/

  Again though Fox, really great work, thanks

[GChicken]

Just giving this a bump, we should make sure Fox has everything he needs for the post as this is Big News!
and with all the eyeballs we have from the daily decrypt (18,000+ views on the "How Bitcoin became the Slowest Most Expensive" ep 5 days ago) and the upcoming Maker Ann;  we are already in the back of a lot of peoples minds now we just need to blow them.

If that leads to a small % of them actually looking at some of the cool tech we have under the hood that's worth it my books.

Awesome work Fox!!  x4

[fuzzy]

I like this, but fear that we need to be very careful promoting something that as yet is not proven to be perfectly pegged.

I would appreciate a comment from CNX on the overall message to would-be BaaS users. @Stan @bytemaster or others care to contribute their desires related to this initiative?

I keep finding myself wondering...what is the LOW-HANGING FRUIT that we can show off now: 

Speed,
Scalability,
Flexibility.

Simple.  Concise.  3 words that every biz strategist would love to hear regarding any technology....regardless of whether they are INTERESTED in smartcoins, smartconctracts, or seaworld movies purchased with a blockchain... Then say that all of these things are proven. 

Then I would add a sentence saying something to the effect of: "plus many other cutting edge experiments that have very high potential, but that must be further tested by a larger community to be proven." 

[xeroc]

The BitShares blockchain is a Financial Services platform for SmartCoins coupled with a decentralized asset exchange. SmartCoins are price-stable digital assets pegged to the current value of various currencies, commodities, stocks and other financial instruments.  The BitShares blockchain “witnesses” public data from world financial markets to “publish” pricing information to the decentralized asset exchange.  Markets are made and the blockchain enforces all SmartCoin parameters and transactions.  The industrial-grade blockchain is currently operating at a 3-second block interval with peaks to thousands of transaction per second. BitShares is delivering today on the promises of blockchain functionality, scalability and speed.  Spin up an Ubuntu VM with the software to get connected in about 15 minutes.

Sounds good. 

Great start! If you don't mind I would iterate over it and say:

The BitShares decentralized business and services platform built on a blockchain. Today, it offers SmartCoins and a decentralized asset exchange. SmartCoins are price-stable digital assets pegged to the underlying physical asset of various currencies, commodities, stocks and other financial instruments and could be interpreted as digital derivatives. The block producers are called "witnesses" and have been elected by the shareholders by means of approval voting. Any pair of assets can be traded in the decentralized exchange and the real-time capable and scalable blockchain technology allows for fast, proper and secure trading as well as transfers. The industrial-grade blockchain is currently operating at a 3-second block interval with peaks to thousands of transaction per second. BitShares is delivering today on the promises of blockchain functionality, scalability and speed.  Spin up an Ubuntu VM with the software to get connected in only a few minutes.

[Fox]

I like this, but fear that we need to be very careful promoting something that as yet is not proven to be perfectly pegged.

I would appreciate a comment from CNX on the overall message to would-be BaaS users. @Stan @bytemaster or others care to contribute their desires related to this initiative? 

[fuzzy]

The BitShares blockchain is a Financial Services platform for SmartCoins coupled with a decentralized asset exchange. SmartCoins are price-stable digital assets pegged to the current value of various currencies, commodities, stocks and other financial instruments.  The BitShares blockchain “witnesses” public data from world financial markets to “publish” pricing information to the decentralized asset exchange.  Markets are made and the blockchain enforces all SmartCoin parameters and transactions.  The industrial-grade blockchain is currently operating at a 3-second block interval with peaks to thousands of transaction per second. BitShares is delivering today on the promises of blockchain functionality, scalability and speed.  Spin up an Ubuntu VM with the software to get connected in about 15 minutes.

Sounds good. 

I like this, but fear that we need to be very careful promoting something that as yet is not proven to be perfectly pegged. 

[cube]

The BitShares blockchain is a Financial Services platform for SmartCoins coupled with a decentralized asset exchange. SmartCoins are price-stable digital assets pegged to the current value of various currencies, commodities, stocks and other financial instruments.  The BitShares blockchain “witnesses” public data from world financial markets to “publish” pricing information to the decentralized asset exchange.  Markets are made and the blockchain enforces all SmartCoin parameters and transactions.  The industrial-grade blockchain is currently operating at a 3-second block interval with peaks to thousands of transaction per second. BitShares is delivering today on the promises of blockchain functionality, scalability and speed.  Spin up an Ubuntu VM with the software to get connected in about 15 minutes.

Sounds good. 

[CLains]

I'll offer the following blurb.  It draws on the submissions offered within this thread and seeks to inform a blockchain professional what BitShares is at the highest level.


The BitShares blockchain is a Financial Services platform for SmartCoins coupled with a decentralized asset exchange. SmartCoins are price-stable digital assets pegged to the current value of various currencies, commodities, stocks and other financial instruments.  The BitShares blockchain “witnesses” public data from world financial markets to “publish” pricing information to the decentralized asset exchange.  Markets are made and the blockchain enforces all SmartCoin parameters and transactions.  The industrial-grade blockchain is currently operating at a 3-second block interval with peaks to thousands of transaction per second. BitShares is delivering today on the promises of blockchain functionality, scalability and speed.  Spin up an Ubuntu VM with the software to get connected in about 15 minutes.

bump 

More eyes on this. Important!

[Fox]

I'll offer the following blurb.  It draws on the submissions offered within this thread and seeks to inform a blockchain professional what BitShares is at the highest level.


The BitShares blockchain is a Financial Services platform for SmartCoins coupled with a decentralized asset exchange. SmartCoins are price-stable digital assets pegged to the current value of various currencies, commodities, stocks and other financial instruments.  The BitShares blockchain “witnesses” public data from world financial markets to “publish” pricing information to the decentralized asset exchange.  Markets are made and the blockchain enforces all SmartCoin parameters and transactions.  The industrial-grade blockchain is currently operating at a 3-second block interval with peaks to thousands of transaction per second. BitShares is delivering today on the promises of blockchain functionality, scalability and speed.  Spin up an Ubuntu VM with the software to get connected in about 15 minutes.

[infovortice2013]

Products would be:
- decentralized exchange
- market pegged assets
- prediction markets (needs development)
- bond markets (not even started yet)
every other stuff on the /technology page that it's not ready yet like subscription payments through scheduled payments and "Dynamic Account Permissions - Management for the corporate environment". I think it makes sense and use that tool for management but we're a long way from that front yet.

I would think in terms of products we should think about existing companies and industries that BitShares could replace.

Emercoin & Factom describe what's possible on their blockchain with compelling use cases whereas BitShares.org focuses on the technology which would be appealing to developers, blockchain savvy investors but probably wouldn't make sense to or excite more casual investors directed to the site.

I would probably approach it more like this... 

BitShares  The Home Of SmartCoins

What is BitShares?
BitShares is a decentralized platform that runs on a blockchain like Bitcoin but with MUCH higher performance.
Our core invention is Price Stable SmartCoins which since inception in 2014 have successfully allowed users to hold the value of currencies & commodities on the blockchain. Over the next few years this technology will completely transform the world as you know it and here's why...

Global Payments  (See you later PayPal!)
Stable BitShares SmartCurrencies like BitUSD let you make & receive payments globally for 0.1% which is up to 35x cheaper than leading centralized competitors.

Spread Trading Platform (Short IG Index & CMC!)
Trade popular SmartStocks and SmartIndexes on the BitShares blockchain at a fraction of the cost of leading spread trading platforms and without KYC. BitShares already offers the popular Nasdaq and Shenzen indexes.

Online MarketPlace (Asta la Vista Amazon!)
List & sell products directly & privately on the blockchain & in stable currencies like BitUSD for less than 0.1% in fees.

The Blockchain Economy
Due to volatility & tight margins, merchants have to convert Bitcoin payments directly to fiat. SmartCurrencies like BitUSD let merchants keep more of their proceeds on the blockchain, creating the potential to have entire supply chains & a blockchain economy that is independent of the traditional banking system. 

Crypto Exchange (Arrivederci Coinbase!)
Traditional Bitcoin exchanges have high risks of thefts, seizures and shutdowns. BitShares lets you trade Bitcoin and other popular crypto-currency Smartcoins directly on the BitShares blockchain.

Digital Gold & Silver Vault
Physical gold has high storage costs, is difficult to move internationally and has historically been confiscated. Centralized derivatives like GLD have a high risk of default when there is a run on physical. BitGold & Silver lets you keep some of your portfolio on the blockchain free from those risks.

Subscription Services (Hello NetFlix!)
BitShares has recurring payment functionality which combined with SmartCurrencies bring the $30 Billion Subscription Market to the blockchain.

Transparent Crowdfunding (Nice Knowing you Kickstarter!)
Want to start a company doing anything you want and attract global investors without the red tape and high fees? BitShares lets you list, fund and trade on it's blockchain without the 3% processing fee charged by centralized competitors.

Global Remittance (So long Western Union!)
Due to Bitcoin volatility and slow confirmation times, Bitcoin has struggled to penetrate the $500 billion global remittance market. SmartCurrencies like BitUSD with their low fees and 3 second transaction times change this.

True Private Banking (At least Switzerland will still have watches and chocolate!)
BitShares allows anonymous global transactions and the ability to hold deposits in multiple SmartCurrencies, accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world. Your blockchain funds cannot be seized or scrutinized and are not affected by local or global banking crises.

Social Tipping & The Gift Economy
Social tipping is a new phenomenon which allows users on social media sites like Twitter, Reddit & Facebook to give a tip to content they appreciate and companies like ShareBits.io have already been integrated with the BitShares platform to take advantage of this. 

Online Charity
Currency Smartcoins and $0.01 transaction fees make small online charity donations affordable, transparent and fast.
 
Sports Betting
BitShares prediction markets allow private wagering on sports events that can penetrate a huge global market without restriction while also reducing the average 'vig' of 5-10% to under 1%. BitShares has already offered wagering on 2016 NFL games. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-3040540/Global-sports-gambling-worth-3-trillion.html

Global Lottery
Lotteries lose up to 50% on running costs, taxes and other expenses. BitShares RNG provides provably fair draws and with ticket sales directly on the blockchain, total running costs could be less than 1%.

Blockchain Casino
Winner winner Chicken Dinner! Volatility is cited as the number one reason more online casinos don't integrate Bitcoin, Smartcurrencies like BitUSD solve this problem and BitShares could even offer traditional Casino games on the blockchain for a fraction of the cost and penetrate the lucrative $30 billion onine gambling market.

Global Personal Insurance
By reducing traditional fixed costs and using the wisdom of the crowd for claim validation, the inventor of Smartcoins is attempting to revolutionize personal insurance by developing the first blockchain based Mutual Aid Society on the BitShares platform.

but BITSHARES instead all of this, is BIGGER, just because all of this services and bussines are runned inside BitShares Blockchain, actually FASTEST one in the globe, the only one with industrial SIZE and XCALABILITY, But all of this amazing blockchains are gobernated by DPOS protocol problably be OPENSOURCE can make him that can be considered an STANDARD for decentraliced corporations as Html5 did for www in his time.
time is comming

and micropayments this is huge.

sorry my english XD

[betax]

Yes you are totally right, a different template for witness, testnet etc will be much better.

[Fox]

[...]
We could include other parameters [...]

Yes, I very much agree.  Adding additional parameters to the template would allow the end users to configure their VM as you suggest.  I considered this from the outset, but tabled it in an effort to deliver the minimal viable solution to on-boarding a user to the platform (see: fewest clicks).  An enhancement may include multiple "Deploy to Azure" icons on the BitShares on Azure BaaS landing page, allowing the end user to select their desired path.  I feel presenting too many parameters to a first time user would result in a higher abandonment rate, as the need to understand what each parameter does increases their time to a live system.  I had considered removing the VM sizing parameter and deploying the VM based solely on their selection of from PPA or Source, but left the choice to the user.

[werneo]

Community Action Request: Content for Azure BaaS blog post. 

Background:
I've been in contact with Marley Gray, Director, BizDev & Strategy - Cloud and Enterprise, Microsoft on the on-boarding process for BitShares to Azure BaaS.  We are a pull request approval from being live. 

Request:
First, please review Mr. Marley's previous blog posts to see how other blockchain offerings are being positioned [1].  Then, please provide ideas on what you feel should be included in his upcoming blog post highlighting BitShares.  I have a skeleton contained within the metadata.json and README.md files within the GitHub repository [2].  If you choose to tweet this information, please mention @ryanRfox

Gratitude:
Thanks to all those that have tested the scripts and provided feedback thus far; please offer more. 

[1] https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/blog/author/marleyg/
[2] https://github.com/ryanRfox/azure-quickstart-templates/tree/review/bitshares-ubuntu-vm

Can we give him Emperical's "bitshares product description" post:

https://bitsharestalk.org/index.php/topic,21115.msg274117.html#msg274117

What is BitShares?
BitShares is a decentralized platform that runs on a blockchain like Bitcoin but with MUCH higher performance.
Our core invention is Price Stable SmartCoins which since inception in 2014 have successfully allowed users to hold the value of currencies & commodities on the blockchain. Over the next few years this technology will completely transform the world as you know it and here's why...


Global Payments  (See you later PayPal!)
Stable BitShares SmartCurrencies like BitUSD let you make & receive payments globally for 0.1% which is up to 35x cheaper than leading centralized competitors.

Spread Trading Platform (Short IG Index & CMC!)
Trade popular SmartStocks and SmartIndexes on the BitShares blockchain at a fraction of the cost of leading spread trading platforms and without KYC. BitShares already offers the popular Nasdaq and Shenzen indexes.

Online MarketPlace (Asta la Vista Amazon!)
List & sell products directly & privately on the blockchain & in stable currencies like BitUSD for less than 0.1% in fees.

The Blockchain Economy
Due to volatility & tight margins, merchants have to convert Bitcoin payments directly to fiat. SmartCurrencies like BitUSD let merchants keep more of their proceeds on the blockchain, creating the potential to have entire supply chains & a blockchain economy that is independent of the traditional banking system. 

Crypto Exchange (Arrivederci Coinbase!)
Traditional Bitcoin exchanges have high risks of thefts, seizures and shutdowns. BitShares lets you trade Bitcoin and other popular crypto-currency Smartcoins directly on the BitShares blockchain.

Digital Gold & Silver Vault
Physical gold has high storage costs, is difficult to move internationally and has historically been confiscated. Centralized derivatives like GLD have a high risk of default when there is a run on physical. BitGold & Silver lets you keep some of your portfolio on the blockchain free from those risks.

Subscription Services (Hello NetFlix!)
BitShares has recurring payment functionality which combined with SmartCurrencies bring the $30 Billion Subscription Market to the blockchain.

Transparent Crowdfunding (Nice Knowing you Kickstarter!)
Want to start a company doing anything you want and attract global investors without the red tape and high fees? BitShares lets you list, fund and trade on it's blockchain without the 3% processing fee charged by centralized competitors.

Global Remittance (So long Western Union!)
Due to Bitcoin volatility and slow confirmation times, Bitcoin has struggled to penetrate the $500 billion global remittance market. SmartCurrencies like BitUSD with their low fees and 3 second transaction times change this.

True Private Banking (At least Switzerland will still have watches and chocolate!)
BitShares allows anonymous global transactions and the ability to hold deposits in multiple SmartCurrencies, accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world. Your blockchain funds cannot be seized or scrutinized and are not affected by local or global banking crises.

Social Tipping & The Gift Economy
Social tipping is a new phenomenon which allows users on social media sites like Twitter, Reddit & Facebook to give a tip to content they appreciate and companies like ShareBits.io have already been integrated with the BitShares platform to take advantage of this. 

Online Charity
Currency Smartcoins and $0.01 transaction fees make small online charity donations affordable, transparent and fast.
 
Sports Betting
BitShares prediction markets allow private wagering on sports events that can penetrate a huge global market without restriction while also reducing the average 'vig' of 5-10% to under 1%. BitShares has already offered wagering on 2016 NFL games. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-3040540/Global-sports-gambling-worth-3-trillion.html

Global Lottery
Lotteries lose up to 50% on running costs, taxes and other expenses. BitShares RNG provides provably fair draws and with ticket sales directly on the blockchain, total running costs could be less than 1%.

Blockchain Casino
Winner winner Chicken Dinner! Volatility is cited as the number one reason more online casinos don't integrate Bitcoin, Smartcurrencies like BitUSD solve this problem and BitShares could even offer traditional Casino games on the blockchain for a fraction of the cost and penetrate the lucrative $30 billion onine gambling market.

Global Personal Insurance
By reducing traditional fixed costs and using the wisdom of the crowd for claim validation, the inventor of Smartcoins is attempting to revolutionize personal insurance by developing the first blockchain based Mutual Aid Society on the BitShares platform.