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Microsoft Store No Longer Accepts Bitcoins As Payment (techtimes.com)

Posted by timothy on from the just-slip-the-money-in-the-floppy-drive dept.

westlake writes: It may come as a surprise to many here [but not all! -- Ed.], but back in December 2014, Microsoft began accepting Bitcoin.as payments for apps, games, and music purchased through the Windows Store, for its Win 10, Windows Phone and Xbox customers. Big-ticket items like MS Office were excluded. The service has been quietly discontinued. Crypto-currencies may excite the geek, but the Windows Store is mass-market and middle class, and the interest just might not be there.

116 comments

  1. Haha by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is it no one knows about ... Ms Store? What a joke that must have been.

    1. Re:Haha by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1, Interesting

      My local mall has a Microsoft Store right across from an Apple Store. Microsoft Store was always empty, Apple Store was always full. Go figure.

    2. Re:Haha by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Because Microsoft products and services you can buy anywhere but many Apple products can only be found at the Apple store, perhaps?

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    3. Re:Haha by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So your house is right in the middle?

    4. Re:Haha by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, it's solid proof that everyone wants an Apple computer and no one wants anything that Microsoft has. I mean, just look at sales of both Apple computers and computers that comes with Windows. Since the Apple Store is always full, I'm sure you'll find that no computers are being sold with Microsoft but there's a Macbook on every desk in America.

      I SWEAR APPLE IS BETTER, DAMMIT! THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB! THERE'S ONLY ONE TOOL!

    5. Re:Haha by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't think that's true. We love to stop in to the Apple Store to see and play with all the gear, but we never buy there. Everything we've ever wanted was available online.

    6. Re:Haha by secretsquirel · · Score: 1

      Will note though, to fulfill this years quota of nice things I'll say about Microsoft, that if you buy a PC from their store (or online store) it won't come with all of the 3rd party ad-ware that would come with the exact same model PC bought elsewhere. Will still come with the Microsoft ad-ware, but a vast improvement none the less.

    7. Re:Haha by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The few times that I've been in an Apple Store have all been while I've been away on a trip and wanted to look something up online without paying extortionate data roaming charges. Looking around the stores have usually indicated that that is what most other people are there for too. I don't want any of Apple's products, but I'm more than happy to use their facilities to check directions, opening times of places of interest, etc.

    8. Re:Haha by tripleevenfall · · Score: 1

      Apple brings people through their stores purposefully in their service model. They don't make disposable devices on lowest-bidder hardware. MSFT is largely old on such devices, so people aren't going to come there and make appointments at the genius bar or for service or whatever.

      Apple has foot traffic in its stores every hour of the business day because they control the hardware end of things so they can plausibly answer any question in-store. Therefore, people go there for answers.

      They also have built a very strong warranty model with AppleCare, they really do honor it without a fight so people are likely to purchase it, especially repeat purchase it if they've had a good experience before, and that brings people through the stores too.

      People in the stores play with devices or see options they'd never see otherwise, it generates more sales. It's self-perpetuating.

      The difference is marketing - Apple selling their products as high end goods and Windows largely being marketed as a low-end good-enough.

    9. Re:Haha by spacepimp · · Score: 2

      To get a top end Surfacebook and a top end Macbook Pro Retina you pay a premium price. Last I checked the Surfacebook was more expensive. When you buy the Macbook you have privacy. When you buy the Surfacebook you have MS adware/spyware/unstoppable telemetry tracking what you type and where you go etc. So at this point in the game with the security of OSX, and end user privacy (not an option in Windows any longer) Apple is no longer the overpriced arrogant choice. Now the better value for your money is to get the cheaper privacy respecting ore secure OS, that isn't hell bent on pushing telemetry at you.

      So for all of their scroogled/gmail man propaganda, MS is now doing more and worse, and that is after trying with a heavy hand to force you to upgrade. However where is the value add they are supposed to bring to the table?

    10. Re:Haha by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1, Informative

      They also have built a very strong warranty model with AppleCare, they really do honor it without a fight so people are likely to purchase it, especially repeat purchase it if they've had a good experience before, and that brings people through the stores too.

      I took in my 2006 MacBook into the Apple Store in 2012 to have the CPU fan and battery replaced. Despite being a "vintage" model and out of warranty, they were able to fix it. Due to a technician accidentally breaking a cable, they even replaced the keyboard/trackpad top. I got my MacBook back like it was brand new.

    11. Re:Haha by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I would not feel safe leaving my computer with a "technician" who accidentally breaks shit while they are trying to do a routine part replacement.

      For something as simple as a fan and battery replacement (or anything less than low level component repair), I would have just replaced them myself and saved a bunch of money/time.

    12. Re:Haha by LWATCDR · · Score: 2

      Actually I saw lots of people in both when I am at a mall with both stores.
      I own a macbook pro and only went to the store once. My hard drive crashed and they told me that I needed a new drive.
      I checked the drive using SMART and it said it was ok. I took it home and repartitioned and formatted the drive and it has worked just great for the last 3 years. Over all not impressed with the Apple store service.
      The Microsoft store was okay but I just didn't see the point. I see little reason to go to an Apple or Microsoft store unless I was going to buy a new Windows machine. I believe that the Windows computers at the microsoft store are free of demoware.

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    13. Re:Haha by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      I would not feel safe leaving my computer with a "technician" who accidentally breaks shit while they are trying to do a routine part replacement

      Repairing a 2006 MacBook in 2012 (or even today) was not a routine repair. The technician made a mistake re-installing the keyboard/trackpad top by pinching a brittle plastic cable. Accident happens. The most important thing was that the MacBook got repaired.

      For something as simple as a fan and battery replacement (or anything less than low level component repair), I would have just replaced them myself and saved a bunch of money/time.

      Since I didn't have the time to do that, I had the money for someone else to do the repair for me.

    14. Re:Haha by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 2

      "I would not feel safe leaving my computer with a "technician" who accidentally breaks shit while they are trying to do a routine part replacement."

      Yes, when something goes wrong with your Made In Chechnya laptop you can totally bring it to a Microsoft Store, have the CPU fan and battery replaced, and if the tech breaks something else in the process he will admit it and fix it for free.

    15. Re:Haha by KGIII · · Score: 1

      > MSFT is largely old [sic] on such devices,

      I'd speculate that more Windows licenses get sold on more higher end computers than Apple will ever realize. It's probably the market leader on high-end computers that come with an operating system installed. The laptop that I'm using to type this has greater capacity than any Apple device ever made and Windows was an option when I bought it.

      I could probably find the numbers somewhere but one of those sites that aggregates benchmarks should demonstrate it. There are certainly much more robust hardware being sold than even comes with Microsoft Windows but those don't often come with an operating system installed and one is probably unlikely to use such as a general purpose computer.

      That doesn't mean that Apple doesn't make nice appliances and computers or that they don't have nice hardware, it's just that you seem to think they're the only option because (perhaps?) you've only been exposed to limited devices. Even HP, Dell, Toshiba, Lenovo, etc. all sell fine hardware. They probably all sell those models at a greater number than all but the appliances Apple sells - unless Apple has increased their general purpose computer sales at a rate that hasn't made the tech news sites.

      As I recall, more people are already using Windows 10 than use OS X. Those who would have purchased the Walmart computers have transitioned to appliances and the sales of computers have dropped off a great bit. I'm not really sure that your claim hold water. A site with benchmarks might "prove" this but that's also selection biased (people who buy inexpensive or disposable computers probably aren't benchmarking them) so I'm not sure where to get these numbers in the first place?

      At any rate, the vast majority of people that I know are neither using disposable computers nor OS X.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    16. Re:Haha by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well sort of.

      You can buy apple products online and at other retail establishments. However a Windows PC may be a Dell, and HP, a Sony, etc. While a "mac" is always an Apple computer.

      So if you want the user experience from an iPhone/iPad, a mac computer, etc. You're buying a product that says "Apple" on it and the most obvious outlet for that is an Apple Store. If you want anything else, or are undecided, it probably makes more sense to go somewhere like Best Buy that will let you compare models from more manufacturers (including Apple) and not a Microsoft Store.

  2. That's okay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I wouldn't trade Bitcoins for spyware anyway.

  3. Mass-market? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    How is the Microsoft Store "mass-market" or "middle class"?

  4. Let's wait until MS comes up with its own currency by NotInHere · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm looking forward to clippycoin, the coin that is bound to the win32 API and windows kernel, you can only pay with it if you have microsoft windows.

  5. "...and interest just might not be there..." by mmell · · Score: 1, Insightful
    Uh, obviously interest is not there - or at least, Microsoft's interest apparently isn't there.

    Let's face it - one quick look at Microsoft's track record and you have to wonder why Microsoft would ever even think of touching Bitcoin. Bitcoin is (ostensibly) about privacy, surely this would be antithetical to Microsoft's demonstrated business practices to date? Then again, maybe Microsoft is only just realizing what a farce the concept of Bitcoin really is.

    1. Re:"...and interest just might not be there..." by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 1

      If a very small percentage of folks are using it and that number is not increasing, that would be reason enough to not apply any more resources to it. Maybe others should realize what Bitcoin isn't.

    2. Re:"...and interest just might not be there..." by GLMDesigns · · Score: 1, Flamebait

      What is farcical about bitcoin?

      The blockchain?

      Proof of transfer of ownership of a digital item?

      Electronic commerce?

      A distributed ledger?

      Or is it the non-fiat money part?

      There's a lot to bitcoin. You sound like a someone in the 1990s who calls the internet a toy and that it would never be part of "real" business.

      --
      If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
      Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
    3. Re:"...and interest just might not be there..." by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

      Besides, all they had to do was to add something like BitPay to their list of accepted methods of payment. On their end, it's no different than PayPal.

    4. Re:"...and interest just might not be there..." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bitcoin is (ostensibly) about privacy ... maybe Microsoft is only just realizing what a farce the concept of Bitcoin really is.

      So you don't know what the point of bitcoin is, but you've decided that it's a farce? The point is written right into the first block:

      The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks

    5. Re:"...and interest just might not be there..." by geekmux · · Score: 1

      Uh, obviously interest is not there - or at least, Microsoft's interest apparently isn't there.

      Let's face it - one quick look at Microsoft's track record and you have to wonder why Microsoft would ever even think of touching Bitcoin. Bitcoin is (ostensibly) about privacy, surely this would be antithetical to Microsoft's demonstrated business practices to date? Then again, maybe Microsoft is only just realizing what a farce the concept of Bitcoin really is.

      Seems rather hilarious to me that the very operating system most targeted by ransomware on the planet is financially satisfied with Bitcoin payments to criminals. Perhaps Microsoft saw it as a conflict of interest.

      "Dammit, if anybody is gonna rip off consumers running Windows, it better be us." - Overheard in the last Microsoft sales meeting regarding Bitcoin payments.

    6. Re:"...and interest just might not be there..." by vux984 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What is farcical about bitcoin?

      1 -Its instability.

      2- The gold-rush where wealth was distributed to speculative early adopter miners.

      3- The schisms that seem to regularly threaten to tear it apart. Including the latest one which last I read was in a stalemate and bitcoin transaction times are now starting to get out of hand.

      There's a lot to bitcoin.

      Yes, there certainly is. But that doesn't make it any less farcical TODAY.

      You sound like a someone in the 1990s who calls the internet a toy and that it would never be part of "real" business.

      An analogy there might aptly compare Bitcoin to a single BBS a precursor to what came afterwards. After all, there are more crypto currencies than Bitcoin out there... and new ones being developed daily. 30 years from now, will anybody be using bitcoin? Or will it be a "compuserve"?

    7. Re:"...and interest just might not be there..." by GLMDesigns · · Score: 1

      there are more crypto currencies than Bitcoin out there... and new ones being developed daily. 30 years from now, will anybody be using bitcoin? Or will it be a "compuserve"?

      That's true and in 30 years "Bitcoin" may not be a dominant player and, like Netscape, may cease to exist. And yet it will have played an important role in the creation of the market. If a non-fiat cryptocurrency exists and is a major player 30 years from now then Bitcoin deserves a lions share of the credit. Bitcoin is much more than simply a currency. It's a proof of concept that went viral.

      The blockchain works. One can have a distributed ledger; proof of transfer of digital assets; transfer of funds quickly and easily with comparatively no overhead; one can have a digital wallet and bring funds around the world (if you've ever traveled abroad you'll recognize the usefulness).

      1 -Its instability.

      The fact that there is instability in the value of the exchange rate between bitcoin and fiat currency - how could it not fluctuate wildly at this point? We really do not know the value. Such "knowledge" only comes in time and millions upon millions of transactions. (Or to summon Carl Sagan: "billions upon beellions of transactions.)

      Re the gold rush mentality. Whatever. People get excited about many things for many reasons and gold rush fever is, to me, neither good nor bad. Is the value of gold itself diminished to the gold rush mentality of the 19th C miners? Is Apple (the company) diminished because stock investors were motivated by profit?

      Now, the schisms- this is a problem. But there are always such problems even if there is a central authority. I've heard MMO fans complain about the directions made by management, complaining that the users weren't listened to. Have you never heard people complain about the direction management has taken a business or country? I certainly have.

      Schisms are not a feature of bitcoin or distributed decision making it's a feature of complex scenarios where the "one-clear-choice" does not present itself to the overwhelming majority of those involved.

      --
      If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
      Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
    8. Re:"...and interest just might not be there..." by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Bitcoin is (ostensibly) about privacy

      A system of money where every transaction exists on public record is about privacy? I don't think you really got the point of bitcoin.

    9. Re:"...and interest just might not be there..." by vux984 · · Score: 1

      If a non-fiat cryptocurrency exists and is a major player 30 years from now then Bitcoin deserves a lions share of the credit. Bitcoin is much more than simply a currency. It's a proof of concept that went viral.

      Sure thing, but that will not make bitcoin any less of a farce for actual transactions today.

      The blockchain works. One can have a distributed ledger; proof of transfer of digital assets; transfer of funds quickly and easily with comparatively no overhead; one can have a digital wallet and bring funds around the world (if you've ever traveled abroad you'll recognize the usefulness).

      One of bitcoins seemingly fatal shortcomings, as I see it, is that the wallets are MUCH too easy to steal. It has all this transparency and distributed leger to "prove transactions" but lacks any mechanism to prevent theft... and theft has been rampant. From MtGox and other exchanges being wiped clean, to wallet stealing malware going after individuals, etc. You can (rightfully) argue that this isn't a flaw of the bitcoin system and protocol per se... but it IS effectively a flaw of bitcoin in terms of the end user experience.

      Re the gold rush mentality. Whatever. People get excited about many things for many reasons and gold rush fever is, to me, neither good nor bad.

      I'm not bothered by people getting excited about it. I'm bothered by its early adopters and developers holding a large portion of the currency, essentially for 'free'.

      "Here is this cryptocurrency, I just invented, and me and my friends printed ourselves thousands or millions of the finite number of coins before you even heard about it. You should all use it! Then our coins will be worth something and we get super rich off it." Frankly, that reeks... and is I think one of the reasons for the proliferation of cryptocurrencies... They reason..."Bitcoin mining is hard now, and why should bitcoin early adopters get all that free hoard? If new currencyX takes off and I'm in on the ground floor.... then I can get a free hoard for myself!"

      THAT gold rush mentality is harming the entire model. Its not excitement about an "idea".

      Now, the schisms- this is a problem. But there are always such problems even if there is a central authority.

      Yet these schisms damage even neutral bitcoin user experience. When vocal MMO fans take to the forums to rail against a raid encounter script change or drop change or something, joe-rando can can still login and play and that tussle between players and developers is just background noise. Bitcoin schisms tend to paralyze or degrade the bitcoin network -- and transactions stop working properly.

      Vendors are dropping bit coin right now, because the multi-minute processing times has made the currency difficult to use and unpleasant. I wouldn't be surprised if this was the trigger that motivated MS to turn it off.

      They'd already built the code etc to support it... even if almost nobody was using it, it then has momentum just to stay the same -- someone has to actively take the steps to turn it off, publish updates, update FAQs etc, etc. Maybe processing delays were resulting repeated purchases or customer support costs or just negative feedback to the system? ...

    10. Re:"...and interest just might not be there..." by GLMDesigns · · Score: 1

      One of bitcoins seemingly fatal shortcomings, as I see it, is that the wallets are MUCH too easy to steal. It has all this transparency and distributed leger to "prove transactions" but lacks any mechanism to prevent theft... and theft has been rampant. From MtGox and other exchanges being wiped clean, to wallet stealing malware going after individuals, etc. You can (rightfully) argue that this isn't a flaw of the bitcoin system and protocol per se... but it IS effectively a flaw of bitcoin in terms of the end user experience.

      Mt. Gox is less an issue of insecure wallets than insecure exchanges. (Whether due to incompetence or fraud on the part of the exchange's operators.)

      I'm confident in my wallet being secure. I'm less confident that if I die that my wife would ever be able to recover the funds. There is a serious lack of usability in the altcoin world and that is a large part in the resistance to adoption. (Something quite similar to resistance to free software. - Another thread I've been part of here on slashdot).

      "Here is this cryptocurrency, I just invented, and me and my friends printed ourselves thousands or millions of the finite number of coins before you even heard about it. You should all use it! T

      Re the gold rush mentality. You've made a very interesting point. I don't share it. We all remember bitcoin in the early day when 12,000 bitcoin were used to buy a pizza. If we thought bitcoin would be worth something we all would have grabbed at it and have been all the richer for it. Still. Interesting perspective.

      I'm not worried about the schisms. They happen and the schism here with bitcoin is a big one. I can see both sides and it took me a while to choose the side of expanding the size of the blockchain. I understand why so many are conflicted.

      Now Microsoft dropping bitcoin. You made a good point

      someone has to actively take the steps to turn it off, publish updates, update FAQs etc, etc.

      This is an interesting development. Why? The delay in confirmation should not be an issue. A vendor can easily add a day before processing. So why drop bitcoin? I don't know. But I am curious.

      --
      If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
      Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
    11. Re:"...and interest just might not be there..." by vux984 · · Score: 1

      You've made a very interesting point. I don't share it. We all remember bitcoin in the early day when 12,000 bitcoin were used to buy a pizza.

      Heh, yes; but at the same time you do hear about stupidly large wallets belonging to early insiders. And while they may have lacked some of prescience or even lacked the cynicism to think like this, I think its definitely a factor in all the new crypto currencies.

      The delay in confirmation should not be an issue.

      Customers aren't going to be happy about minutes or hours delay purchasing a $1-$5 app. Not when Visa et al take 3% of the sale and approve or deny in seconds.

    12. Re:"...and interest just might not be there..." by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      "Here is this cryptocurrency, I just invented, and me and my friends printed ourselves thousands or millions of the finite number of coins before you even heard about it. You should all use it! Then our coins will be worth something and we get super rich off it."

      This single problem blows away the whole selling point of cryptocurrency, which is that the money supply is limited by mathematics rather than than being having to be monitored in real time by a central bank. It's as though the lucky insiders keep issuing themselves infinite do-overs, while the rest of us have to keep jumping to figure out which crypocurrency to use next.

      IMHO, we would be better off attacking the blockchain scaling problem and the wallet theft problem by using these concepts on a conventional currency. Setting up a crypotocurrency is a related but separate technology.

    13. Re:"...and interest just might not be there..." by GLMDesigns · · Score: 1

      Re delay:

      There are levels of concern. If you, as a vendor, were not concerned at all about double spending attacks then you wouldn't really care if confirmation came in 5 minutes or 50 minutes. But you (as a vendor) must be acutely aware of fraud and must protect yourself. Right now bitcoin is facing a growing pain. Does bitcoin continue being a one size fits all solution or does it focus upon larger transactions in which case there are fewer transaction and in which longer confirmations are of less importance

      I think the solution will be to increase the size of the blockchain as well as adopt other methods (lightning) and will continue handling small transactions. The problem that bitcoin is facing is due to it's success. This problem needs to be solved (sooner rather than later) but it's a better problem to face than one in which no one is using bitcoin.

      --
      If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
      Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
    14. Re:"...and interest just might not be there..." by KGIII · · Score: 1

      Does Bitcoin get the credit or does DigiCash get it?

      There are some big similarities with the two and some huge differences AND Chaum's DigiCash was a horrific failure but, like most things, BitCoin isn't really all that original a concept. I seem to recall that crypto.me has an interesting write-up but I'm way too lazy to go look for it. From there, you can dig into it a bit more but much of what Bitcoin does was in the lab many years ago. Some of it made it into the real world.

      One of which did not make it very far was the ability to do something like pay a small amount to websites in the form of donations or just pay-to-view. A part of me wishes that had been an option for some. At least I don't *think* I'm conflating Chaum with another person? I could be. I'm not sure what he's up to but he was back in the news not too long ago for something or other. A chat application, I think.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    15. Re:"...and interest just might not be there..." by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      Why would M$ touch bitcoin, hmm, because they were paid to collect them and sell them to someone else. So who wanted a bunch of bitcoin to 'secretly' spend around the world, likely on a range of nefarious activities and could afford to pay M$ to collect bitcoins for them, hmm, who could afford to waste that money, hmm, what would they need that many bitcoins for? Just speculation but I would be interested to know what M$ spent those bitcoins on ;).

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    16. Re:"...and interest just might not be there..." by GLMDesigns · · Score: 1

      That's a fair question. And I suppose historians, may at some point, clash over this.

      Bitcoin definitely borrowed from DigiCash (and no I don't think Chaum == Satoshi either).

      Bitcoin "borrowed" many ideas and combined them; as a proof of concept it worked; we're just now testing it's ability to adapt and grow in the "real" world.

      --
      If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
      Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
    17. Re:"...and interest just might not be there..." by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Mt. Gox is less an issue of insecure wallets than insecure exchanges. (Whether due to incompetence or fraud on the part of the exchange's operators.)

      Exchanges are a vital part of any altcoin, particularly one newly distributed (and I'd say bitcoin is still at that stage). Most people are going to use altcoins as a way of transferring money, and most merchants are going to tie their altcoin prices to the prices in more conventional money, so there's going to be a lot of exchanging between altcoins and national currencies. Also, you allude to the difficulty in using altcoins, which is pretty well eliminated by keeping an account on an exchange.

      Therefore, exchange problems are altcoin and wallet problems. It isn't a peripheral concern.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  6. so, both of them? by nimbius · · Score: 1

    do we mean microsoft store as in that icon in windows no one ever visits, or that icon in the mall that no one ever visits?

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
    1. Re:so, both of them? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey, in all fairness, the Microsoft stores in the malls let my eight year old kid play games for as long as he wants. He might need to hand over the controller and get back in line (e.g., Battlefront during the Xmas shopping rush) but no one has ever told him to stop playing, to go away, etc.

      The Apple stores chase him away within 10 minutes. And all their games are demo versions.

      For some reason, he really wants an XBox One rather than an iProd.

      But no, neither he nor I have ever clicked that Microsoft Store icon.

    2. Re:so, both of them? by NatasRevol · · Score: 1

      And guess which store is actually making billions of dollars, and which one is in the red?

      --
      There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
    3. Re:so, both of them? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Assholes can work for a successful company and cool gamers can be work for lousy businessmen.

    4. Re:so, both of them? by NatasRevol · · Score: 1

      Good point. I'm sure both companies will change their policies based on your ever so insightful observation.

      --
      There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
  7. Stand up and salute by evolutionary · · Score: 2

    Microsoft has, willingly or unwillingly as been a government "partner" since Windows 7 (perhaps earlier). They collect data on Windows 10 and in all likelihood (they would be forbidden to discuss this) share all data collected with the government. The US Government (like Russia) is against anything that protects anonymity, so it stands to reason that MS would also be against anything that protects anonymity/privacy including Bitcoin. Wonder if MS will get a bounty for reporting Windows 10 users who have installed TOR clients. :D

    --
    "Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
    1. Re:Stand up and salute by jareth-0205 · · Score: 0

      Microsoft has, willingly or unwillingly as been a government "partner" since Windows 7 (perhaps earlier).

      That or the impending catastrophic failure of the Bitcoin experiment... Perhaps they don't want to be caught up when the value collapses or the technical system breaks, both of which seem on the horizon.

    2. Re:Stand up and salute by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bitcoin looks awfully like something created by a government agency in the first place, perhaps as a black currency to use as a way of dealing with 'off the books' operations*. Course Bitcoin proponents like the promote the egalitarian fantasy that the whole thing was created by an anonymous nerd who merely likes his privacy. Is funny how they can't tell you who actually invented this alleged 'future of currency' but ask you to put your faith in it.

      *Tor is meant to be a way for civilians to protect themselves against a nosey government but was originally created to help government agents communicate through the Internet. Am betting bitcoin has a similar pedigree.

    3. Re:Stand up and salute by GuB-42 · · Score: 1

      Quite the opposite in fact.
      By the very nature of Bitcoin, it is impossible to hide a transaction. The only thing you can hide is the person behind a given address. By allowing small payment in BTC to a named account, Microsoft can deanonymize a few transactions.

      No, I think the real reason they stopped using Bitcoin is much more down to earth. By allowing Bitcoin payment, they expected to get a few extra sales, turned out it wasn't worth the hassle, so they killed it. Another possibility is that they weren't satisfied with the payment processors.

    4. Re:Stand up and salute by gtall · · Score: 1

      "The US Government (like Russia) is against anything that protects anonymity". Tor was developed by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.

    5. Re:Stand up and salute by evolutionary · · Score: 1

      That was then. But..have you seen the comments from the FBI on people using TOR recently? We developed a lot of things, and then told people not to use them because they never imagined so many people would.

      --
      "Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
    6. Re:Stand up and salute by evolutionary · · Score: 1

      Did you know the US government also told computer manufacture to install a "clipper chip" to allow everyone in. Guess what, Matt Blaze managed to crack this chip. :D Government tries all sorts of things they wish they hadn't. And I suspect TOR may be one of them. :D On the other hand, it gives the public a chance to preserve their privacy, especially in a day we collect data without people's permission.

      --
      "Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
  8. Crypto-currencies may excite the geek by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

    OK, can I at least pay with my own 3D printed coins then . . . ?

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    1. Re:Crypto-currencies may excite the geek by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

      You mean RepRap coins? They're only valid if you used ColorFabb GoldFill 3D printing filament.

  9. No loss by TheCarp · · Score: 1

    Funny, I have some bitcoins and yet, I don't feel any loss here. Microsoft had a store? Really?

    Other than OEM versions of the OS that many games insist I run, what would I ever give them money for?

    --
    "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
  10. Re:Hey buddy... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wrong. You can divide bitcoin up to 8 decimal places, so in real world money you can go down to fractions of a cent.

  11. Re:Hey buddy... by invictusvoyd · · Score: 1

    1 Satoshi = 0.06 USD

  12. Re:Hey buddy... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That is the problem with bitcoins... they can't be subdivided.

    Yes they can.

  13. Re:Hey buddy... by jareth-0205 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Hey Buddy, I'd like to buy your software with my bitcoins, but the smallest coin I have is $413USD.... How the hell do you make change with the smallest integer amount of a bit coin is $413.16???? That is the problem with bitcoins... they can't be subdivided and there just aren't enough of them for each person on earth to have even ONE.

    I mean there are so many flaws in the Bitcoin concept you really don't have to make new ones up that are obviously false...

  14. Re:Hey buddy... by GLMDesigns · · Score: 1

    I guess you forgot the part of bitcoin being divisible up to 1/100,000,000 of a bitcoin. (And this can be changed in the future if necessary).

    Or are you trolling?

    --
    If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
    Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
  15. MS Store is instant delivery, but BitCoin is not by Richard_at_work · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You will see this happening more and more, as the BitCoin network has dived in performance in recent weeks with transactions taking up to an hour to be written into the block chain - so you can't really run an "instant delivery" platform on that basis, as you have no guarantee of the transaction going through until its actually happened.

    Either customers have to wait until the transaction is written into the block chain to actually get their purchase, or the vendor has to take a risk in giving the product before the transaction is set in stone, allowing for transaction reversal attacks. As most stuff on these type of stores are impulse purchases, or instant gratification purchases, most users will not want to wait out the block chain and will rather go elsewhere.

    Now, yes MS does control a lot of these devices and thus can take the product back again (eg XBox games, Metro apps etc) but this just turns the whole thing into a PR nightmare issue, and doesn't stop users from purchasing music (which are not DRMed) on hacked accounts and reversing the transaction.

    So, all in all, BitCoin currently doesn't work for these type of stores.

  16. Re:Hey buddy... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I CAN TYPING!!!

  17. No interest in Microsoft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I agree. Those among us who use bitcoin are likely above average intelligence and likely not interested in using Microsoft's proprietary crap.

  18. Re:Hey buddy... by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 3, Informative

    Right now, one bitcoin equals 413.16 USD. One satoshi is 0.00000001 bitcoin, so each satoshi is worth 0.0000041316 USD. That means you need 14522 satoshi to have 0.06 USD.

    If each satoshi were worth 0.06 USD, that means one bitcoin would be worth six million USD and I'd be a multi-millionaire.

  19. Bitcoins are for LUDDITES. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Modern app appers know that only APPS can be used to buy other apps, NOT LUDDITE BITCOINS!

    Apps!

    1. Re:Bitcoins are for LUDDITES. by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 1

      Congratulations, you're actually on topic!

      Microsoft wants to do away with currencies altogether. Bitcoin is the competition. MS Credits works something like a frequent-flyer rewards program:

      Joe builds an app, "Fart app in D Flat". In lieu of payment in $US, Joe opts to receive payment in app store credits. So each time someone buys Joe's app, he receives 100 app store credits, which Joe can then use to buy apps or ebooks, add to his music catalogue or rent movies etc.

      The Windows Insider program dispenses store credits for every bug report or helpful suggestion. Independent web sites (such as $lashdot) offer tie-ins for up-modded comments to receive 5 store credits for every up-mod. social media offers 1 credit per like. Kid-friendly bricks and mortar stores such as Burger King offer credits on each order, while pizza delivery companies allow for service entirely in MS store credits.

      The evil genius is that since no money changes hands, possibly withstanding a supreme court challenge, Microsoft's taxation burden is then liable only at the point of conversion into real hard currency, such as grannie purchasing a block of credits for a birthday present, or big purchases on the store using a payment gateway to traditional currencies.

      Attempts to monetize purchases in competition to iTunes/Play/Amazon may be doomed to failure if it's all about profits. Creating their own virtual payment system that rewards users of the Windows ecosystem may well save their 80% desktop monopoly.

  20. Re:MS Store is instant delivery, but BitCoin is no by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

    It's funny how people keep saying transactions are being delayed, I use some faucets that can send withdrawals under five seconds.

  21. Re:MS Store is instant delivery, but BitCoin is no by Richard_at_work · · Score: 1

    Good for you, I'm sure everyone else would love to know how they are accomplishing it (other than setting much higher mining rewards for the transaction) because this is a well documented issue.

  22. Value of bitcoin by kelarius · · Score: 0

    It also could have something to do with the wildly fluctuating value of Bitcoin, you want to charge $4.99 for this app but who knows if that's going to be 0.0121 or 0.0124 or 0.011 bitcoins in the future?

    --
    Personally I'd rather have my idiots at home glued to the TV than out doing idiotic things
    1. Re:Value of bitcoin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

      Bitcoin is as stupid as gold or comic books or baseball cards.

      Worthless crap, that only has value because a lot of stupid people think it has value and believe they can dupe another person into believing the same thing.

    2. Re:Value of bitcoin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It takes less than an hour to set up BitPay and have it working to accept Bitcoin payments on a website. They do the on the spot price conversion for you, it's all pretty simple and I've personally set it up for a half dozen sites. I think the real problem that the price fluctuations cause for day to day consumer use is the anxiety it seems to cause. People get really antsy when their magic internet money wallet changes value rapidly. The whole Bitcoin community (and anti-Bitcoin community) kind of promotes this mental stress as well. The entire blocksize debate is a great example; one side screaming that it will be the end of Bitcoin and the other side bickering and fighting like methed up chimps. It does nothing to give users any peace of mind and puts people off it.

      But for stores, it's pretty seamless and the fluctuations don't really effect the vast majority of them.

  23. Re:Hey buddy... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's obviously flawed in ways that I won't elaborate because you'll disagree, just like Wikipedia and Linux!

  24. Re:Let's wait until MS comes up with its own curre by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm looking forward to clippycoin, the coin that is bound to the win32 API and windows kernel, you can only pay with it if you have microsoft windows.

    There is always a publicized intent broadcast to the masses to address a change, and then there is the actual intent.

    Case in point: One-Time Use vs. Legal Precedent, being served up hot and fresh from DOJ with a side of bullshit-sauce.

    I wouldn't be surprised if the actual intent here is to make Microsoft Money a form of currency and not merely a budgeting product. Capitalism and the destruction of regulation have proven there's a metric fuckton of money to be made in the banking industry. Hell, you can even steal from it, as long as you run the damn bank and you steal so much of it that you have to ask your local government for a bailout. Oh, just FYI, make sure you say the words "too big to fail!" a LOT when you have to ask for that loan. Tends to have a nice ring to it.

  25. Re:MS Store is instant delivery, but BitCoin is no by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pay a higher fee, cheapskate

  26. "What is farcical about bitcoin?" by mmell · · Score: 1
    What government stands behind it?

    (Yes, I know - answering a question with a question is bad form - but there's nothing concrete about bitcoin anyhow, so it's okay)

    1. Re:"What is farcical about bitcoin?" by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      What government stands behind it?

      Why do you think that matters? No government stange behind gold. Conversely, the government of a real country stood behind the famous Zimbabwe dollar.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    2. Re:"What is farcical about bitcoin?" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What government stands behind it?

      Why do you think that matters? No government stange behind gold. Conversely, the government of a real country stood behind the famous Zimbabwe dollar.

      And gold is almost as bad a currency as Bitcoin.

    3. Re:"What is farcical about bitcoin?" by delt0r · · Score: 1

      The difference is that bitcoin really can become worthless. Well you can at least use gold to make shinny teeth when no one whats it.

      --
      If information wants to be free, why does my internet connection cost so much?
    4. Re:"What is farcical about bitcoin?" by KGIII · · Score: 1

      > Why do you think that matters? No government stange behind gold. Conversely, the government of a real country stood behind the famous Zimbabwe dollar.

      It matters for practicality. One can reasonably expect a vendor to accept currency backed by a modern, secure, State. One can expect reasonable stability in a currency from a modern sustained State. One can reasonably expect that State to back that currency, which means that one can be reasonably sure that they'll get a similar value from it over an extended period, a period longer than something that fluctuates as wildly as a currency being treated as investment coupled with the speculation that goes along with it.

      Why'd you ask? You know those things. It's not binary, alternative currencies certainly have a place but, at this time, they're certainly not ready to the exclusion of all other currencies in practical terms for practical people. That may change in the future but that is not the current reality. There's no reason to be delusional about it nor is there any call to set up a dichotomy.

      Reading their post doesn't indicate, to me at least, that they're in any way indicating that you can't use it. They're merely indicating why others may not choose to. I'm not sure why you'd take offense at such or go to the extremes of pointing out nonsense like Zimbabwe's failures as if that's salient. We both know that they're certainly not referencing currencies from instable governments and needing to add the obvious is how you end up with posts the length of mine - and we all know nobody wants that.

      Them: "Green vegetables are not healthy."
      You: "They're not if you eat nothing but green vegetables!"
      Me: "While that's true, surely you had something better to add, usually you do. Are you somehow against green vegetables?"

      Sheesh... Fan of crypto-currencies or something? I did not know you were. It's okay - you can come out of the closet. I mined a bunch when they came out and rather than realize the assets (and associated stigma) I donated them to the EFF when they re-entered my memory as I'd completely forgotten that I'd had a few VMs set up as mining boxes and then turned the system off and moved it to make room for something else.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    5. Re:"What is farcical about bitcoin?" by mmell · · Score: 1
      The difference is that (even now) I'm more likely to trust the value of the Zimbabwe dollar (no, I don't understand the reference and I don't intend to look it up).

      If I were the only one, I'd be a fool and the odd man out. I've looked around - I'm not the only one. There are a lot of us - even a lot among the geek crowd - who would prefer to have some rare substance and/or lots of guys with guns to assert that what I have is really money and not just a unique and interesting encrypted dataset.

  27. Its a problem with its image by TeddyR · · Score: 1

    Its not that there is no interest. Its more probable that because of all the recent CryptoLocker type attacks that seem to always want payment in bitcoin, as well as TV shows such as CSI: Cyber which have tarnished the image of bitcoin making it seem that it is only used by Malicious Hackers or Blackmailers.

    --

    --
    Time is on my side
  28. Re:MS Store is instant delivery, but BitCoin is no by Richard_at_work · · Score: 0

    The current average mining fee for an average wait time of 12 minutes is a significant portion of a 99 cent purchase (as in, whole pennies), which only gets larger if you want it done quicker...

    Meanwhile, a VISA transaction goes through instantly at a lower cost (comparing my current contracts VISA transaction cost vs the current BitCoin fee rates). This has nothing to do with being a cheapskate, and everything to do with the underlying system being the problem.

  29. Re:Hey buddy... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Enjoy your penises-whoops meant pennies.

  30. Re:MS Store is instant delivery, but BitCoin is no by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I thought that the whole point of bitcoin was that there were no intermediaries.

    If the solution is "pay a higher fee", then what happens when a very small number of intermediaries controls the network? You create an incentive to artificially increase the transaction price of course.

    What happens is that these intermediaries - literally the 1%, who control over 50% of the network - can artificially limit network transaction capacity. Then the laws of supply and demand kick in: lots of demand (many transactions), low supply (artificially crippled network) = higher prices.

    This isn't just theoretical: The network IS already being manipulated by a minority (the so, called, Chinese miners, among others), and the average transaction fee for a "reasonable" processing time already far exceeds the fee you would pay to, say, Visa.

  31. Re:MS Store is instant delivery, but BitCoin is no by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Once the Bitcoin devs iron out their differences so blockchain traversals take a non-insane amount of time, I can see MS and other places re-offering it as an option. However, BitCoin is at a watershed moment right now. If the currency can't be fixed, it will wind up with people leaving, and possibly, suffering the same fate as eCash, Beenz, and Flooz.

  32. Re:Hey buddy... by spacepimp · · Score: 1

    The satoshi is currently the smallest unit of the bitcoin currency recorded on the block chain. It is a one hundred millionth of a single bitcoin (0.00000001 BTC). The unit has been named in collective homage to the original creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto.

    Why would you lie about BTC not being able to be subdivided? If you are just ignorant, then maybe you should go to Gizmodo and people won't call you out on such things.

  33. Re:Windows is still the most-used OS by a huge mar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Linux has essentially no measurable share of the market. Optimistically, it's sub-1%."

    You may want to rethink that number. Chrome books are Linux based and it has more than a sub 1% share.

    Actually they are shipping more chrome books than laptops.

    http://www.cio.com/article/297...

    So the year of the Linux laptop is here and no one even noticed! :P

  34. XMRBTC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bitcoin wasn't made for mass usage, Monero will be much better.

  35. Re:Windows is still the most-used OS by a huge mar by gsslay · · Score: 2

    Most of these people in turn are part of the middle class, regardless of whether they're using Windows at home or on the job.

    Well, if we are to accept this conclusion (and it is basically without any supporting evidence), the same could be said of all computer users and therefore all bitcoin users.

    So what point is being made by calling Windows Store "middle class" is a mystery. The fact it is mass-market is a million times more relevant. It got discontinued because a tiny percentage of its targeted customers are interested in using bitcoins, not because bitcoins are your working classes money.

  36. Interest, but not tolerance for quirks by Fencepost · · Score: 1

    The MS folks may be interested in accepting bitcoin, but it's quite possible that their financial folks have no tolerance for the potential for issues - at least not until the current brouhaha is sorted out. After all, declining to accept bitcoin costs might cost them a very few customers but possibly not even that.

    Also, as someone else noted the delays that are now more common in bitcoin payments are a bad match for software or license key downloads - it's almost like purchasing a software download by mailing a check. Heck, quoting one article on bitcoinschannel.com: "the 0.001 BTC fee â€" worth US$0.43 at the time of writing â€" is no longer sufficient to get guaranteed confirmations from the next few blocks on the Bitcoin network." I'll note that a processing fee of US$0.43 or higher is getting pretty close to the cost of postage for mailing a check - particularly if you have to go higher to get your transaction processed promptly.

    --
    fencepost
    just a little off
  37. Re:Windows is still the most-used OS by a huge mar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    ChromeOS and Android are probably the worst examples you could have used, especially if you want to suggest that Linux is seeing any real adoption.

    Both go out of their way to hide Linux as much as possible! They just go to show that the only way to make Linux even barely usable is to throw away the GNU utilities, X, GNOME, and the other software typically used by traditional Linux distros. Then all of that is replaced with quasi-proprietary (even if open source) alternatives which excel and abstracting away anything and everything relating to Linux. Linux is sequestered to the point that most users wouldn't even realize it's there.

    And don't go based on outdated (your numbers are approaching 2 years old) stats regarding sales of Chromebooks. I know a number of people who bought Chromebooks not realizing how crippled and useless they really are. These people thought they'd be getting a cheap Windows laptop, and were disappointed when they accidentally got something much less useful. Those who could return them did, and the others who couldn't return them just didn't use them. I know some other people who only got Chromebooks as disposable laptops. They only use them when traveling. For any real work, these people use Windows desktops or laptops.

    Android can't be considered to be Linux. ChromeOS can't be considered to be Linux. Chromebooks aren't equivalent to real computers. Linux has a sub-1% share of the desktop/workstation/laptop market.

  38. Re:Let's wait until MS comes up with its own curre by thegarbz · · Score: 1

    you can only pay with it if you have microsoft windows

    People already pay in non-monetary ways every day if they have windows.

  39. Re:Windows is still the most-used OS by a huge mar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Sorry, the normal user is really only three steps above an ape banging rocks together.

    Windows learned this a long time ago and dumb down the interface as well as hid all the underlying stuff. Linux is just late to the party. It is still Linux, sure the user interface is dumbed down to the point for a monkey could operate it.

    As to 2 years old, I chose it because it was not the most recent article. Recently chrome books hit 51% market share in the education market and that is what all the current stuff is about.

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/...
    http://www.pcworld.com/article...
    http://www.techtimes.com/artic...

    You just appear butt hurt because your tech toy is making inroads to mainstream usage. Keep playing with your Linux distros, the average user wants simple and Linux, with the help of google and others, are providing it. You dont like Chromebook, or android? Then dont run it. Just remember, Linux is the kernel and anything with a Linux kernel is "Linux" it may be be GNU Linux, it may not be a desk top, but it is still Linux whether you like it or not.

  40. Reason is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A bill is working its way through the house to make the use of crypto currency a felony in the U.S.

    Micro$oft is just being prudent here.

    CAP === 'Prevent'

  41. Re:MS Store is instant delivery, but BitCoin is no by Kagato · · Score: 1

    THIS!

    Legitimate retailers don't need the hassle. This transaction time issues have been known for some time, but you have competing parties on the solution. So we are at a stalemate. I believe the dispute between developer factions has been going on for over a year. Different factions have interests that are not always about what's best for the general user population.

  42. Re:Windows is still the most-used OS by a huge mar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Different AC here. Fortunately I don't give a flying fuck what "normal users" want. I don't know why I should give a flying fuck what they want. They want Facebook dumb terminals, so let them have those!

    All I want is to be able to buy decent hardware that will let me load the operating system that's easiest to use for me. Hint: it's not going to be some closed source proprietary bullshit where the UI changes every update.

    I want to shoot the next person who says that Macs are easy to use. If they're so fucking easy to use, then why do I have to keeping telling people that no, I'm a programming, I have no fucking clue or interest in know how the fuck you do $task in iOS. I have no fucking clue how to troubleshoot your Chromebook. You chose your device, so you don't get to fucking call me sexist over knowledge I don't even desire to have.

  43. Re:Hey buddy... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I found the Trump supporter!

  44. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  45. Re:MS Store is instant delivery, but BitCoin is no by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Since you're comparing to Visa, you might prefer to use CoinBase.com to make BitCoiN-backed online money transfers instantly and cheaply. Both of them require trust in a third party and can be reversed after the fact, but are capable of an extremely high number of cheap transactions per second.

    If you're thinking "but BitCoiN is supposed to be P2P and trustless!" then why would you compare it to Visa? It's more analogous to mailing someone a brick of gold.

    I apologize if someone advertised BitCoiN to you as "free" or even capable of Visa-level scaling yet, because it isn't.

  46. Re:MS Store is instant delivery, but BitCoin is no by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I thought that the whole point of bitcoin was that there were no intermediaries.

    far exceeds the fee you would pay to, say, Visa.

    Visa is an intermediary and that makes things MUCH cheaper/faster. Decentralization is extremely expensive. If everyone switched to Bitcoin Unlimited today (as you seem to be getting at), miners still couldn't produce Visa-sized blocks without cost-prohibitive orphan rates. Even if you guys finished with IBLT and weak/thin blocks, that much bandwidth would be easy to detect and censor.

    But let me guess - I must be a shill for the 1%er Chinese miners. No way could anyone understand bitcoin better than you do, like the vast majority of its actual developers.

  47. Re:MS Store is instant delivery, but BitCoin is no by Richard_at_work · · Score: 2

    CoinBase looks like another Mt Gox - it achieves its scaling because its not touching the BitCoin ledger, its purely doing exchanges through its own liquidity.

    BitCoins current issues with scaling are completely down to the core developer team refusing to fix the issues - there are several ways the current problems can be resolved, they just don't want to solve them for some reason.

  48. wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Crypto-currencies may excite the geek

    From what I've seen they excite Libertarians, drug dealers, tax dodgers, scam artists and privileged kids living in their parent's basement who don't have to pay for their own electricity .

  49. Some of their own medcine perhaps... by GumphMaster · · Score: 1

    Perhaps our friends at Microsoft got some of their own medicine when Visa/Mastercard said, "That's a lovely discounted merchant fee you have there. Would be a shame if something happened to it." They then "suggested" that accepting payment any other way might be detrimental.

    --
    Patent litigation: A doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction... in which everyone seems willing to push the button
  50. Here's Chicken Little with today's headlines by PCM2 · · Score: 2

    The story has now been updated to read:

    Microsoft has just confirmed that the update it made to the Windows Store FAQ page was just a mistake and that Windows 10 would continue to support Bitcoin.

    --
    Breakfast served all day!
    1. Re:Here's Chicken Little with today's headlines by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      bitcoin sucks cos i don't use it and it scares me!

  51. Still supported after all by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Title and commenters on this topic way behind the speed of the Internet. No word on when Slashdot will correct the summary.

    http://news.softpedia.com/news/windows-10-store-will-continue-to-support-bitcoin-official-statement-501722.shtml

  52. Well that's a bummer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wish more companies would take (and keep taking) bit coins

  53. Re:Hey buddy... by KGIII · · Score: 1

    Just a little while later, it is $413.61. An interesting thing I noticed, it's now on XE.com. However, that fluctuation isn't really a good thing I suspect. That's worth about 2/3 the value that mine were at when I donated them all to EFF.

    People aren't going to want to deal with the immediacy required if it's an exchange of value unless that's smoothly done. In theory (perhaps in practice) you can end up having paid more (or less) than the product is worth due to just the time taken for the transaction to complete. That's going to (probably) have to change if wide acceptance is the goal.

    For better or worse, there's the social stigma associated and the volatility as barriers to acceptance by some. I've no idea how to fix that. I'd mined a bunch and then forgotten them. I remembered when the topic came up a few days in a row. I went and found the box, hooked it back up, and had mined 48 of them. I decided I'd find someone to donate them to, as opposed to being taxed on them and accepting any stigma associated with them, and in the time it took me to find someone that accepted them and make the donations they'd fluctuated in value from about $650 each to $575 each and then back up to nearly the first amount. I checked a week later and they were down to something like $400 each.

    --
    "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  54. Re:Let's wait until MS comes up with its own curre by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    MS already has their own currency:

    We've been referring to them as Micro$oft for years, now it's just official.

  55. Re:MS Store is instant delivery, but BitCoin is no by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's almost as if a "decentralized system with no controlling authority" doesn't have anyone in particular at the helm who can make sure shit gets done and instead gets bogged down in political infighting among it's "community". Who would have thought?

  56. Re:MS Store is instant delivery, but BitCoin is no by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    developer team refusing to fix the issues - there are several ways the current problems can be resolved, they just don't want to solve them for some reason.

    How does this not scream at you, "you do not understand the problem"? The Core devs have reiterated MANY times that increasing the block size (assuming that's one of your "several ways") only slightly helps scaling, does so at the cost of decentralization, and better scaling techniques are under development.

    Bitcoin's current problems boil down to a bunch of computer professionals who lack any talent or creativity wanting to latch on and declare themselves experts, but who have failed to research or even think really hard about the problems it solves or how it works. For example have you noticed yet that you can't even spell Bitcoin?

    BTW Microsoft has announced that they actually do still accept Bitcoin.

  57. Re:Hey buddy... by ai4px · · Score: 1

    Thanks for the education... I had no idea bitcoins were divisible by 8 decimal places.