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  •   about 14 years ago

why mintChip isn't open-source?

MintChip seems really a good idea, but if it will substitute paper currency, the best thing to avoid monopoly and over dependency in one company or government is open-source, dont you think? when I mean open-source I mean everything, hardware, software...
wiht everything open, we will have more people seeking bugs and breaches in the security, so It will be more safe..

  • 5 comments

  •   •   about 14 years ago

    Purely speculation: from what I've seen so far[0], it seems like the MintChip has been designed by smart people — people (presumably) smart enough to know that the only trustworthy cryptosystems are open[1] cryptosystems. This would lead me to believe (and, possibly, trust?) that there is a reason for keeping some aspects of the system closed for now… Assuming that, if it were ever to be mainstreamed, all aspects would be opened up.

    [0]: some of which is documented at http://blog.codekills.net/2012/04/07/a-first-look-at-mintchip's-hosted-api's-crypto/

    [1]: at least "open as in visible"; "open as in open source" is neither here nor there.

  •   •   about 14 years ago

    I disagree because one thing...

    "Using innovative technology, for which the Mint has prototypes and five patents pending, MintChip uses a secure chip to hold electronic value and a protocol to transfer it from one chip to another." at 5º paragraph in
    http://developer.mintchipchallenge.com/devguide/background.html

    If they want open, why they need patents?

  •   •   about 14 years ago

    Patents don't necessarily mean software can't be open. The Apache foundation even has procedures to deal with patent licensing. Patents can serve a defensive purpose.

    I'd expect that the Mint simply doesn't want the overhead of dealing with an open source project at this time. MintChip is still pretty experimental, so it makes sense to do the development in private, and maybe once things are more concrete, then open up the code.

    Sure, it does slow down the development on unsupported platforms, but I'm going to wait until a final release to expect open source.

  •   •   about 14 years ago

    I'm guessing the Mint wants to license the technology.

  •   •   about 14 years ago

    that's the same that I think Terry W, we will see it in the near future. :)

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