All,

Those who have not seen on Bitcointalk, Coins101 posted a vote yesterday about making an application to the Microsoft Azure service. Other coins that have been added to the service are Ethereum, Factom, and Emercoin - just off the top of my head. The vote was a resounding yes, aside from one no. I am linking the OP here so that conversation/ discussion can happen here and we can reference it in the future. I will also post some of the more informative posts from Bitcointalk here when I am able to. Feel free to discuss here or there, though. This is sort of Spreadcoin's home so it would be great to get some more discussion on here. But I do agree that we are bound to get more exposure on BTCT. I think it is valuable to make sure there is no particular part of the community that misses out on important things going on because they don't check BTCT. Anyways, here is the OP and link to the topic:

Link: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1392053.msg14138999#msg14138999

Background:

Back in January, someone (we don't know him/her) posted a comment on an Azure blog post that Microsoft Azure should allow Spreadcoin onto the Azure BaaS platform:



https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-blockchain-as-a-service-update-3/

Marley Gray, Director @Azure, said it would be great to have Spreadcoin on the platform.

Read more about the Azure Blockchain as a Service, here: http://www.coindesk.com/microsoft-blockchain-azure-marley-gray/

The dev team discussed this at the time and we pushed the decision out until progress was made on ServiceNodes.

There was some disagreement about the amount of time involved in making the application to join the platform and if it was warranted. Discussions about overt corporate relationships was also an issue.

We have reviewed the situation again and as ServiceNode testnet gets closer, we are asking the community if some dev time should be allocated to making an application to join the Azure Cloud.  The application will be made after ServiceNodes are on testnet; plus it might not be successful and that is the main risk that we see at the moment.

The lead dev, Georgem, wants to know what the community thinks and he want to listen to the pros and cons. He is open to the idea of working towards joining the Azure program if the overall feedback warrants a closer look and it doesn't end up compromising the project or the principle of decentralization.

Personally, I consider the Azure platform could be a great partner for Spreadcoin and it's stated goals of running many different services, in particular full Bitcoin nodes.  A package testnet build could be created so spinning up ServiceNodes could be a fast and easy way to launch a spreadcoin node and a Bitcoin full node.

Azure competes with many other cloud environments, such as AWS so this would not be an exclusive cloud relationship. ServiceNode operators have the ultimate choice of where to host their nodes, locally or on a cloud platform. The main criteria will be that each ServiceNode will need its own IP address.

So, vote and have your say. All pros and cons welcome.  To avoid competitors and trolls hijacking the vote, no votes in particular need to have a post saying why not.  The votes will be weighted accordingly.

Main Spreadcoin thread:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1045373.0

Disclosure.

As part of my day job, Azure are considering using a software product I support and they might end up using an app I built as they seek to grow their Cloud offering.

Forgot this one that wasn't posted in that particular topic:

Just created an account to pipe in here... I think you guys are woefully under-explaining the Microsoft thing. It's very simple: they'll offer pre-packaged SPR-enabled cloud instances if an application is submitted and the code is vetted as safe for their platform. Nothing about this "moves" the SpreadCoin network. Nothing about this changes SpreadCoin. Nothing about this forces or even persuades SPR users to start using Azure services *unless* they, of their own volition, find it convenient to assist in the operation or development of SPR-related services.

Ethereum, Factom, Emercoin and several more coins have been accepted to this platform. None of them are in a "partnership" with Microsoft. None of them have "moved" to the Microsoft network. None of them have changed any of their code, governance, licensing, funding, or anything else about their project. I honestly have no idea where the concept of moving the SpreadCoin network to a centralized partnership with overlord Microsoft comes from, but it's waaaaaaaay off the mark of what's actually been offered/implemented. Having not gone through the application myself, I can't be sure, but from what I can infer from the experiences of other projects, the vetting process seems to be self-contained to a code-safety review within Microsoft.

As for why it would be advantageous (aside from the price/investor confidence/growth), I believe this is a completely benign program to participate in that doesn't threaten decentralization, arguably increasing it through easier, immediate, and reliable end-user access to SPR services and development. If PayPal said they're accepting SpreadCoin to process payments and SPR doesn't have to change anything about themselves - would you consider that centralization? Would you be wary of such an integration? This isn't the same level, but it's similar. You have a platform with major exposure, solid support, and in this case, a particularly forward-thinking team behind it for coming from such a corporate behemoth (who else is doing Blockchain-as-a-Service, seriously?) and they've read the SPR whitepaper and would be happy to help support the SPR community and ecosystem by offering it on their experimental and forward-thinking BaaS platform.

I honestly don't see how this can be perceived as a threat or a dangerous thing. If the service sucks, no one uses it. If Azure makes no money off of BaaS, it ceases to be offered. If they offer reliable service for an attractive price, enabling developers and users to access SPR more easily or more economically, then all this is, is decentralized infrastructure (you do know what Azure is, right?) building around SpreadCoin. Frankly I'm stunned that the de facto project lead on SPR is so under-informed on his main competitors/counterparts, and what's happening in this business space. Not trying to be a dick, but you probably need some more hands on deck with various strengths and knowledge. Beyond the code. And then you need to seriously consider to their advice, the hard part.


I've been with spread since Mr. Spread launched it, btw, had an old account here that I deleted last year, used to be a "Hero" - some would probably remember me. Anyway, I stop in every month or so just to see what's happening, and I had to clarify this Microsoft misunderstanding going on. Good luck with whatever direction the project goes, still have coins in the vault and watching curiously.

Thanks for doing this.
We let too many important discussions go to waste, ...

Microsoft/Azure seems to be the newest buzzword that is (ab)used as a vehicle to drive investor speculation, when in reality it's not that much of a big deal.

My main goal with spreadcoin is to keep it as open and free as possible. No affiliations, no partnerships, no nothing.

But any user of spreadcoin software is ofcourse free to enter any contract with any legal (or even illegal) entity he likes.

I don't have to care, that's the beauty of decentralization and non-liability: it's a permissionless system.