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Open source is booming by any metrics. My favourite example is Bitcoin, which is just getting started, but even its haters usually agree that it has a huge impa

Open source is booming by any metrics. My favourite example is Bitcoin, which is just getting started, but even its haters usually agree that it has a huge impact (even if they don't like the impact itself).

bdcravens 8y ago
I would say Bitcoin is lagging compared to where many other open source projects were after 10 years.
- sparkie 8y ago
  Well, you can expect it might take some time to gain adoption for an idea which has such a profound and extensive impact on many areas of life, and not just software. Bitcoin has changed the way the world thinks about money in just 10 years. I wouldn't call that lagging. It seems to me that it is leading.
  - jcranmer 8y ago
    > Bitcoin has changed the way the world thinks about money in just 10 years. Has it really? I've not seen any evidence that mainstream economists have changed their views on money and monetary policy. Even among the lay public, it doesn't seem that it's really changed anyone's minds, just given some people with minority views on the matter a loud platform to shout them from.
  - bdcravens 8y ago
    > Bitcoin has changed the way the world thinks about money in just 10 years. That's mostly limited to "true believers". For the 99%, Bitcoin the technology doesn't really mean anything, but they rather think of the speculative investment. (for reference, I was mining BTC in 2011, and have made more than a few dollars in it over the years, I just like meat with my Koolaid)
    - sparkie 8y ago
      It might only be a small minority of people who are true believers in Bitcoin, but many of them have taken it upon themselves to continue building new financial instruments and technologies around it. The internet changed the way the world thought about communication in the 70s. This was a minority opinion all the way up to the naughties when it became impossible to continue ignoring reality. Banks will need to innovate or they'll end up like the record labels and newspapers who failed to keep up with the geeks and entrepreneurs. The banks which embrace technology might survive.
  - xiphias2 8y ago
    The amount of hate is quite interesting... usually I get about 4 points for what I write (if it doesn't stay at 1), but any time it's about Bitcoin, it's -4. Still, adoption is exponental, so I'm quite confident it just takes 10 more years to get to wide adoption.
    - bdcravens 8y ago
      I can't speak to your posts, and there is definitely some hate against Bitcoin, but in general, HN downvotes anything that's more evangelical fervor than in-depth discussion. Compared to many other topics, a lot of the Bitcoin posts I see I here are probably better fit for Reddit than HN. (I participate a lot in cryptocurrency subreddits)

bdcravens 8y ago

I would say Bitcoin is lagging compared to where many other open source projects were after 10 years.

sparkie 8y ago
Well, you can expect it might take some time to gain adoption for an idea which has such a profound and extensive impact on many areas of life, and not just software. Bitcoin has changed the way the world thinks about money in just 10 years. I wouldn't call that lagging. It seems to me that it is leading.
- jcranmer 8y ago
  > Bitcoin has changed the way the world thinks about money in just 10 years. Has it really? I've not seen any evidence that mainstream economists have changed their views on money and monetary policy. Even among the lay public, it doesn't seem that it's really changed anyone's minds, just given some people with minority views on the matter a loud platform to shout them from.
- bdcravens 8y ago
  > Bitcoin has changed the way the world thinks about money in just 10 years. That's mostly limited to "true believers". For the 99%, Bitcoin the technology doesn't really mean anything, but they rather think of the speculative investment. (for reference, I was mining BTC in 2011, and have made more than a few dollars in it over the years, I just like meat with my Koolaid)
  - sparkie 8y ago
    It might only be a small minority of people who are true believers in Bitcoin, but many of them have taken it upon themselves to continue building new financial instruments and technologies around it. The internet changed the way the world thought about communication in the 70s. This was a minority opinion all the way up to the naughties when it became impossible to continue ignoring reality. Banks will need to innovate or they'll end up like the record labels and newspapers who failed to keep up with the geeks and entrepreneurs. The banks which embrace technology might survive.
- xiphias2 8y ago
  The amount of hate is quite interesting... usually I get about 4 points for what I write (if it doesn't stay at 1), but any time it's about Bitcoin, it's -4. Still, adoption is exponental, so I'm quite confident it just takes 10 more years to get to wide adoption.
  - bdcravens 8y ago
    I can't speak to your posts, and there is definitely some hate against Bitcoin, but in general, HN downvotes anything that's more evangelical fervor than in-depth discussion. Compared to many other topics, a lot of the Bitcoin posts I see I here are probably better fit for Reddit than HN. (I participate a lot in cryptocurrency subreddits)