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Genius! It's on the first page: http://www.bitcoin.org/sites/default/files/bitcoin.pdf

... except I didn't have to even read that to figure out the system was insecure. The description from Wikipedia was sufficient. In other words, if someone who is not familiar with the system can spot the main flaw in 2 minutes or less, then it's garbage.

I think you better read the paper.

"We consider the scenario of an attacker trying to generate an alternate chain faster than the honest chain. Even if this is accomplished, it does not throw the system open to arbitrary changes, such as creating value out of thin air or taking money that never belonged to the attacker. Nodes are not going to accept an invalid transaction as payment, and honest nodes will never accept a block containing them. An attacker can only try to change one of his own transactions to take back money he recently spent."

bitcoin.pdf

It goes on...

As long as a majority of CPU power is controlled by nodes that are not cooperating to attack the network, they'll generate the longest chain and outpace attackers.

http://www.bitcoin.org/sites/default/files/bitcoin.pdf

"The longest chain not only serves as proof of the sequence of events witnessed, but proof that it came from the largest pool of CPU power. As long as a majority of CPU power is controlled by nodes that are not cooperating to attack the network, they'll generate the longest chain and outpace attackers.[...]The system is secure as long as honest nodes collectively control more CPU power than any cooperating group of attacker nodes."

Genius! It's on the first page: http://www.bitcoin.org/sites/default/files/bitcoin.pdf

Here's the release announcement.
http://www.bitcoin.org/smf/index.php?topic=238.msg2004#msg2004

Here's where you can buy and sell bitcoins with USD PayPal, USD Liberty Reserve, USD Moneybookers and DGC Pecunix.
https://bitcoinmarket.com/

Here's where you can buy and sell bitcoins with bank transfers which are free of fees within the EU and where you can buy using SMS.
https://www.bitcoinexchange.com/

Here's an free online wallet to make it easier to exchange bitcoins when you're away from your home computer.
http://www.mybitcoin.com/

Here's a free online wallet and an anonymous web hosting service that accepts bitcoins.
https://vekja.net/

Here is a VoIP service which accepts bitcoins.
https://www.link2voip.com/ [link2voip.com]

Here's an anonymous proxy service that accepts bitcoins.
https://www.mullvad.net/

Here's a new service where you can buy and sell Second Life Linden Dollars.
http://bitlex.co.cc/

Money needs to be hard to replicate.

Well, close. Money needs to be hard to replicate _without getting caught_.

Part of the design of digital currencies is making it so that double-spending is likely to be detectable. Bitcoin seems to broadcast all transactions to the network, but I admit I just glanced at their technical paper.

Well, there are Bitcoin exchanges so you can convert to and from USD if you prefer a centralised fiat currency. You're correct, currently there are not so many services available that will accept bitcoin. The hope is that since this is a new, inherently stable, unmanipulatable currency, that we will see more and more services offering bitcoin payment options.

see The marketplace on the forum for places where you could spend your bitcoins.

Announcing the first release of Bitcoin, a new open source peer-to-peer electronic cash system that's completely decentralized, with no central server or trusted parties. Users hold the crypto keys to their own money and transact directly with each other, with the help of the network to check for double-spending.

http://www.bitcoin.org/

(nothing stopping that being used with PM)