At 6:19 PM 12/03/94, Eric Hughes wrote:

From: Alex Strasheim <alex@omaha.com>

...

Until the Digicash system can move real value, there is no reason to use it.

I think I'm missing something here. Isn't the Digicash system in a beta-phase? At this point, aren't they just trying to work out the kinks and show people that it works?

Yes, it is granted that Digicash is in beta, and not polished. But beta testing usually happens after all significant functionality is present. The Digicash beta isn't moving real money, and that's a significant functional deficit.

Huh? Beta testing occurs after significant functionality in the _software_ is present. The current digi-cash software, as I understand it, would work find in a real-cash situation. You would just need to pay for your ecash. Yeah, a system would need to be set up to deal with fraud and such, that might not be there right now. But that system is at an entirely different level then the digicash software, neither vendors nor buyers would have to deal with it. The fact that real money isn't being moved isn't a significant functional deficit in the digicash software, it's got nothing to do with the digicash software. It would be stupid to beta the software with real money, because then if it something doesn't work right, people will lose real money. You want to make sure that the software works pretty much flawlessly, so people don't lose real money once the system is being used for real money. And to do that, you release the beta software without real money. That makes perfect sense to me. Later, I'm sure, there will be a beta test using real money, once the software is completely finished.